Everton FC forward Richarlison was the marquee name on the Brazilian squad headed to Tokyo to defend their gold medal.
Brazil faced Spain in the gold media final, and the Everton forward saw himself nearly become the villain of the match.
The 24-year-old had the opportunity to give his national team the lead but failed to convert his penalty kick shot. Richarlison touched on missing the scoring chance, where UOL Esporte relayed his comments to the media.
“I believe that today was not the day for the ball to enter. We lacked a little luck, but it is part of the game. The important thing is that whoever entered, entered well,” Richarlison said.
“It was worth the sacrifice at the club, during training, every injection taken to play. Now it’s time to celebrate a lot because it was difficult. Everyone is to be congratulated.”
Nonetheless, his teammates bailed out the Everton forward as they came away with the 2-1 victory as Brazil won the gold medal. The Seleção became the lastest national team to win back-to-back football tournaments at the Olympics, joining rival Argentina, the last country to win gold in 2004 and 2008.
“I’ll leave it well kept, locked. I’ll also want to get a tattoo in honor of this achievement. I’ll leave it forever because it’s very gratifying to win gold with this shirt. I came here for that, to help my teammates, and that’s what I did on the field,” Richarlison said.
Richarlison spoke about having the pressure to defend Brazil’s gold medal that the country won in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. Furthermore, the Everton marksman revealed a conversation with Neymar Jr. leading up to the Olympic games.
“You see, right, Neymar? He said that maybe I would feel the pressure of playing with 10, but I was top scorer in the competition, I scored, now I have to put up with (laughs)” Richarlison said.