Everton star Richarlison has taken part in Brazilian TV show Donos da Bola this week, and had a pretty cool interview speaking of his time with the Toffees.
The striker has responded to questions from many pundits, and one of them was about his quick adaptation to English football, while other South Americans seem to struggle with it.
“I’m often asked how I arrived in England, how I managed to adapt so quickly, to arrive and play. I say I don’t know either. I just got here, they put me to play and I went to play. I didn’t know how to speak their language, the food was also different. So I think my happiness here was to put myself on the pitch and play. So that’s what I did. In all the clubs I went to, thank god I honoured the shirt. So there was no difficulty, except this part of the food, the cold also weighed a little.”
Regarding the Coronavirus crisis, Richarlison was asked if he’d rather play behind closed doors or stay at home. And the player didn’t hesitate about the answer.
“Everyone in their home. Playing with closed gates, I don’t think we can. The joy of a football game are the fans too. We count on them a lot. Playing without them doesn’t work. So I’d rather to stay at home, and protect ourselves.”
With pundits mentioning that players may be stopped from celebrating goals with teammates, Richarlison says that not being able to hug fans is bad enough.
“Yeah. There’s also that part there that you cannot celebrate with the fans there, when you score a goal, hug them, you get booked. So it’s a little difficult. Let’s see what happens next. It seems that this rule in the Premier League, they want them to train in masks too. But let’s see what will happen. I hope they make a decision soon so that we don’t get so concerned.”
Regarding the national team, the 23-year-old has talked about how much he loves playing for Brazil, and recalled the first time he was called up for the squad.
“Wearing the national team shirt… when I got to the room, I thanked God enough. I was so happy. I was smiling alone inside the room. I like the national team more than I like myself. For me, the national team is everything. It’s a dream of mine as a child to wear the shirt. Every time I go there I get emotional, I like it a lot, every time I go there I don’t want to come back.”
Speaking of his compatriots, Richarlison was asked who’s the best Brazilian in the Premier League, and chose an attacking partner from the national team.
“I think Firmino. Firmino comes from two great seasons, winner of the Champions League, last year he nearly won the Premier League, this year they were top when it stopped.”
