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Stars in his eyes
Richarlison is on a good run of making dreams come true. Become a professional footballer? Check. Play alongside your idol for Brazil? Check. And then there’s the one that completes the hat-trick: become a Champions League player. That one was ticked off on Matchday 1, so here the Tottenham Hotspur forward tells us how it felt – and how he got there in the first place
WORDS Simon Hart | INTERVIEW Caroline De Moraes
Interview
For Richarlison, Wednesday 7 September 2022 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium brought a night he will treasure into his dotage. Two headers – two late goals – on his Champions League debut. And then: tears. Tears that flooded his eyes as he sought out his father, Antônio Carlos, on the front row of the West Stand and embraced him.
The outpouring of emotion at the end of his new team’s 2-0 win over Marseille was indicative of what it means to the Brazilian to be playing Champions League football, finally. His debut double arrived four months after his 25th birthday. Neymar, his hero, first tasted Champions League football at 21. But Richarlison is used to biding his time.
Unlike a long list of precocious Seleção stars, there was no fast track. Indeed, Richarlison had to wait until five days after his 19th birthday to make his debut in his home country’s top flight with Fluminense. Hence the Instagram post after his Champions League debut, which featured the image on the opposite page and included the following words: “There were years of struggling and searching and you were always by my side. I just want to thank you for not giving up on me and my dream.”
The relationship with his father is, he tells Champions Journal, fundamental to him being where he is today. “I really looked up to my dad. He was the one who always took me to play football.” His uncle, Elton, was influential too. “Both my dad and uncle played football, and my dad brought me along in his truck. I went to all my dad’s games. He always dreamed of becoming a footballer but he and my uncle didn’t get the opportunity that I did, of having trials at big clubs, so he really encouraged me. It’s important for me to make that dream a reality, and for him to be here so that he can see it first-hand.”
It was a dream that at times seemed beyond reach for Richarlison in his teens. He grew up in Nova Venécia, a small town of little more than 50,000 inhabitants in the state of Espírito Santo in southeastern Brazil. It is not a place where football scouts habitually gather. The fact that it has a professional club competing in the local championship today at all is thanks to Richarlison: he helped set up Nova Venécia FC in 2021, with his father as president. In Richarlison’s case, his first official club was Real Noroeste, a modest outfit in Aguia Branca, a town an hour from Nova Venécia. “When I was 16 I finished as top scorer, playing for the under-20s,” he recalls.
At this point the teenaged Richarlison was living with his uncle Elton, after his total focus on football – to the detriment of other possibilities – led to him leaving the home he had grown up in with his mother and stepfather. “I put my foot down and told them that all I wanted to do was become a footballer, and that caused quite a stir at home,” he says. “My parents were divorced – they’d separated when I was a kid – so I lived with my mum and my stepfather and he didn’t want me living in his house. He wanted me to get a full-time job instead of pursuing a football career. I told him that I didn’t want to do that, so I had to leave home and live with my uncle.” Richarlison and his stepfather have since reconciled their differences.
The striker’s tales of Nova Venécia include a run of odd jobs that only cemented his conviction that “football was the best option”. He recounts: “I sold sweets with my aunt. I sold ice lollies and ice cream where my mum worked. I worked at a car wash. I also worked at a coffee shop with my grandfather. After a day or two, I would just get fed up.”
He was even more fed up after one fruitless 3,600km round trip for trials with two clubs in Florianopolis: Figueirense and Avaí. Then came another long trip, for “make or break” trials in Belo Horizonte. “It was a rainy day. My dad took me to the bus terminal and I remember having a one-way ticket, plus the money to buy the return ticket in case I didn’t make it. But after 11 hours of travelling, I was hungry. Every time the bus stopped, I looked at the money and thought, ‘I have to eat something.’
“I spent almost all the money I had, because at those bus stops everything was very expensive. So when I arrived in Belo Horizonte, I had no money to get back in case I didn’t get through the trial. At the training ground at night, we spent most of the time in the accommodation, and there was a bakery in front of it. So we went there to buy some biscuits, and I also bought some for the lads with the rest of the money for the ticket. I just didn’t care because I was very confident. That is a day that I will remember forever because if I hadn’t made it, I would not have known what to do.”
Richarlison and his family – including his father – share a moment after the final whistle on Matchday 1 (right)
Richarlison and his family – including his father – share a moment after the final whistle on Matchday 1 (right)
“My dad always dreamed of becoming a footballer. It’s important for me to make that dream a reality, and for him to be here so that he can see it first-hand”
Richarlison describes himself as an ‘aggressive goalscorer’
What was missing at Everton was Champions League football – a point he underlines with a story. “On a day off while I was still at Everton, l got my friends together and we had a kick-about on a pitch close to my home. When I stepped onto the pitch, they played the Champions League anthem. I posted it on my social media and loads of people commented on it. Even during that kickabout it gave me chills, as that Champions League anthem is very special.”
At Tottenham he can hear it for real, following his June transfer for a club-record fee that could rise to £60m. He explains that a phone conversation with Antonio Conte, the manager, was pivotal in deciding his destination. “From all the offers arriving, Tottenham’s was the only one where the manager called and spoke to me. He told me he was counting on me, that he knew I can play in all three attacking positions, so I would be very important for him and for the club,” says Richarlison. “That made me feel confident to come, because all a player wants is a manager who shows trust in him.”
And just what have Tottenham acquired in the Brazilian? He begins with a précis: “Aggressive. Goalscorer. I do score lots of goals, don’t I? That’s my style – not only at the club but also with Brazil.” In his international career he has 17 from 38 games going into the World Cup (not to mention an Olympic gold medal, won in 2021). He goes on: “So I guess I am this aggressive player always seeking to score more, who can assist when a colleague gives a better alternative. But my main characteristic is to score.”
As well as his goals for the national team, Richarlison is known back home for his social conscience. He organises an annual charity match in Nova Venécia to raise funds to feed families in his home state – spectators have been asked to bring a kilo of food in lieu of an entrance fee – and he also arranged for the delivery of 500 food parcels to households there during the Coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, he regularly uses his Twitter account to comment on social causes in his home country. Two examples: speaking out after the death in 2020 of João Alberto Silveira Freitas, a black welder, after a beating by two white security guards in a Porto Alegre supermarket; and demanding “Oxigênio para Manaus!!” after hospitals in the city of Manaus ran out of oxygen for Covid patients during the pandemic.
Back on the pitch, at Everton he shone most brightly in a left-sided attacking role; for Brazil, he operates centrally. At Tottenham, as with his country, he wears the No9 on his back, but on his Champions League debut he played behind Kane, on the right, and caught the eye with his movement between the lines. He is not a dribbler but offers plenty besides: speed, technique, power, tenacity, hunger. Plus that sheer love of a ball at his feet – or on his head, as Marseille’s defenders can attest.
There is more. “I’m also tactically obedient, always following what the manager asks. Any mistake, even from us forwards or midfielders, is fatal, so we always have to be in position. These days I’m more intelligent because I’ve worked with many managers, and they’ve helped me a lot. I improved myself a lot. I feel that I’m at the best moment of my life and my career, so I think there are only good things to come.”
As for the pressure of a club-record fee, he is nonplussed. “Honestly, that pressure began when I was at América-MG. When I went to Fluminense, I was also the most expensive signing; the fans felt puzzled about that, but I always pay it back.” (That his first goal for the Brazilian club won a derby at Flamengo certainly helped.)
He adds: “At the beginning, everybody will be critical and tell people I’m not worth the money. But in the end, I always do the job and make the fans happy by doing my best. The same thing happened at Everton: many criticised me, saying that I was not worth such money, yet they’ve seen that I was worth every penny they spent on me. I’ll do the best I can to make that happen here too and silence the critics.” On Matchday 1, he made the perfect start.
Scoring his second header against Marseille (top left)
Scoring his second header against Marseille (top left)
The outpouring of emotion at the end of his new team’s 2-0 win over Marseille was indicative of what it means to the Brazilian to be playing Champions League football, finally. His debut double arrived four months after his 25th birthday. Neymar, his hero, first tasted Champions League football at 21. But Richarlison is used to biding his time.
Unlike a long list of precocious Seleção stars, there was no fast track. Indeed, Richarlison had to wait until five days after his 19th birthday to make his debut in his home country’s top flight with Fluminense. Hence the Instagram post after his Champions League debut, which featured the image on the opposite page and included the following words: “There were years of struggling and searching and you were always by my side. I just want to thank you for not giving up on me and my dream.”
The relationship with his father is, he tells Champions Journal, fundamental to him being where he is today. “I really looked up to my dad. He was the one who always took me to play football.” His uncle, Elton, was influential too. “Both my dad and uncle played football, and my dad brought me along in his truck. I went to all my dad’s games. He always dreamed of becoming a footballer but he and my uncle didn’t get the opportunity that I did, of having trials at big clubs, so he really encouraged me. It’s important for me to make that dream a reality, and for him to be here so that he can see it first-hand.”
It was a dream that at times seemed beyond reach for Richarlison in his teens. He grew up in Nova Venécia, a small town of little more than 50,000 inhabitants in the state of Espírito Santo in southeastern Brazil. It is not a place where football scouts habitually gather. The fact that it has a professional club competing in the local championship today at all is thanks to Richarlison: he helped set up Nova Venécia FC in 2021, with his father as president. In Richarlison’s case, his first official club was Real Noroeste, a modest outfit in Aguia Branca, a town an hour from Nova Venécia. “When I was 16 I finished as top scorer, playing for the under-20s,” he recalls.
At this point the teenaged Richarlison was living with his uncle Elton, after his total focus on football – to the detriment of other possibilities – led to him leaving the home he had grown up in with his mother and stepfather. “I put my foot down and told them that all I wanted to do was become a footballer, and that caused quite a stir at home,” he says. “My parents were divorced – they’d separated when I was a kid – so I lived with my mum and my stepfather and he didn’t want me living in his house. He wanted me to get a full-time job instead of pursuing a football career. I told him that I didn’t want to do that, so I had to leave home and live with my uncle.” Richarlison and his stepfather have since reconciled their differences.
The striker’s tales of Nova Venécia include a run of odd jobs that only cemented his conviction that “football was the best option”. He recounts: “I sold sweets with my aunt. I sold ice lollies and ice cream where my mum worked. I worked at a car wash. I also worked at a coffee shop with my grandfather. After a day or two, I would just get fed up.”
He was even more fed up after one fruitless 3,600km round trip for trials with two clubs in Florianopolis: Figueirense and Avaí. Then came another long trip, for “make or break” trials in Belo Horizonte. “It was a rainy day. My dad took me to the bus terminal and I remember having a one-way ticket, plus the money to buy the return ticket in case I didn’t make it. But after 11 hours of travelling, I was hungry. Every time the bus stopped, I looked at the money and thought, ‘I have to eat something.’
“I spent almost all the money I had, because at those bus stops everything was very expensive. So when I arrived in Belo Horizonte, I had no money to get back in case I didn’t get through the trial. At the training ground at night, we spent most of the time in the accommodation, and there was a bakery in front of it. So we went there to buy some biscuits, and I also bought some for the lads with the rest of the money for the ticket. I just didn’t care because I was very confident. That is a day that I will remember forever because if I hadn’t made it, I would not have known what to do.”
Richarlison and his family – including his father – share a moment after the final whistle on Matchday 1 (right)
Richarlison and his family – including his father – share a moment after the final whistle on Matchday 1 (right)
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“My dad always dreamed of becoming a footballer. It’s important for me to make that dream a reality, and for him to be here so that he can see it first-hand”
Richarlison describes himself as an ‘aggressive goalscorer’
What was missing at Everton was Champions League football – a point he underlines with a story. “On a day off while I was still at Everton, l got my friends together and we had a kick-about on a pitch close to my home. When I stepped onto the pitch, they played the Champions League anthem. I posted it on my social media and loads of people commented on it. Even during that kickabout it gave me chills, as that Champions League anthem is very special.”
At Tottenham he can hear it for real, following his June transfer for a club-record fee that could rise to £60m. He explains that a phone conversation with Antonio Conte, the manager, was pivotal in deciding his destination. “From all the offers arriving, Tottenham’s was the only one where the manager called and spoke to me. He told me he was counting on me, that he knew I can play in all three attacking positions, so I would be very important for him and for the club,” says Richarlison. “That made me feel confident to come, because all a player wants is a manager who shows trust in him.”
And just what have Tottenham acquired in the Brazilian? He begins with a précis: “Aggressive. Goalscorer. I do score lots of goals, don’t I? That’s my style – not only at the club but also with Brazil.” In his international career he has 17 from 38 games going into the World Cup (not to mention an Olympic gold medal, won in 2021). He goes on: “So I guess I am this aggressive player always seeking to score more, who can assist when a colleague gives a better alternative. But my main characteristic is to score.”
As well as his goals for the national team, Richarlison is known back home for his social conscience. He organises an annual charity match in Nova Venécia to raise funds to feed families in his home state – spectators have been asked to bring a kilo of food in lieu of an entrance fee – and he also arranged for the delivery of 500 food parcels to households there during the Coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, he regularly uses his Twitter account to comment on social causes in his home country. Two examples: speaking out after the death in 2020 of João Alberto Silveira Freitas, a black welder, after a beating by two white security guards in a Porto Alegre supermarket; and demanding “Oxigênio para Manaus!!” after hospitals in the city of Manaus ran out of oxygen for Covid patients during the pandemic.
Back on the pitch, at Everton he shone most brightly in a left-sided attacking role; for Brazil, he operates centrally. At Tottenham, as with his country, he wears the No9 on his back, but on his Champions League debut he played behind Kane, on the right, and caught the eye with his movement between the lines. He is not a dribbler but offers plenty besides: speed, technique, power, tenacity, hunger. Plus that sheer love of a ball at his feet – or on his head, as Marseille’s defenders can attest.
There is more. “I’m also tactically obedient, always following what the manager asks. Any mistake, even from us forwards or midfielders, is fatal, so we always have to be in position. These days I’m more intelligent because I’ve worked with many managers, and they’ve helped me a lot. I improved myself a lot. I feel that I’m at the best moment of my life and my career, so I think there are only good things to come.”
As for the pressure of a club-record fee, he is nonplussed. “Honestly, that pressure began when I was at América-MG. When I went to Fluminense, I was also the most expensive signing; the fans felt puzzled about that, but I always pay it back.” (That his first goal for the Brazilian club won a derby at Flamengo certainly helped.)
He adds: “At the beginning, everybody will be critical and tell people I’m not worth the money. But in the end, I always do the job and make the fans happy by doing my best. The same thing happened at Everton: many criticised me, saying that I was not worth such money, yet they’ve seen that I was worth every penny they spent on me. I’ll do the best I can to make that happen here too and silence the critics.” On Matchday 1, he made the perfect start.
Scoring his second header against Marseille (top left)
Scoring his second header against Marseille (top left)
The outpouring of emotion at the end of his new team’s 2-0 win over Marseille was indicative of what it means to the Brazilian to be playing Champions League football, finally. His debut double arrived four months after his 25th birthday. Neymar, his hero, first tasted Champions League football at 21. But Richarlison is used to biding his time.
Unlike a long list of precocious Seleção stars, there was no fast track. Indeed, Richarlison had to wait until five days after his 19th birthday to make his debut in his home country’s top flight with Fluminense. Hence the Instagram post after his Champions League debut, which featured the image on the opposite page and included the following words: “There were years of struggling and searching and you were always by my side. I just want to thank you for not giving up on me and my dream.”
The relationship with his father is, he tells Champions Journal, fundamental to him being where he is today. “I really looked up to my dad. He was the one who always took me to play football.” His uncle, Elton, was influential too. “Both my dad and uncle played football, and my dad brought me along in his truck. I went to all my dad’s games. He always dreamed of becoming a footballer but he and my uncle didn’t get the opportunity that I did, of having trials at big clubs, so he really encouraged me. It’s important for me to make that dream a reality, and for him to be here so that he can see it first-hand.”
It was a dream that at times seemed beyond reach for Richarlison in his teens. He grew up in Nova Venécia, a small town of little more than 50,000 inhabitants in the state of Espírito Santo in southeastern Brazil. It is not a place where football scouts habitually gather. The fact that it has a professional club competing in the local championship today at all is thanks to Richarlison: he helped set up Nova Venécia FC in 2021, with his father as president. In Richarlison’s case, his first official club was Real Noroeste, a modest outfit in Aguia Branca, a town an hour from Nova Venécia. “When I was 16 I finished as top scorer, playing for the under-20s,” he recalls.
At this point the teenaged Richarlison was living with his uncle Elton, after his total focus on football – to the detriment of other possibilities – led to him leaving the home he had grown up in with his mother and stepfather. “I put my foot down and told them that all I wanted to do was become a footballer, and that caused quite a stir at home,” he says. “My parents were divorced – they’d separated when I was a kid – so I lived with my mum and my stepfather and he didn’t want me living in his house. He wanted me to get a full-time job instead of pursuing a football career. I told him that I didn’t want to do that, so I had to leave home and live with my uncle.” Richarlison and his stepfather have since reconciled their differences.
The striker’s tales of Nova Venécia include a run of odd jobs that only cemented his conviction that “football was the best option”. He recounts: “I sold sweets with my aunt. I sold ice lollies and ice cream where my mum worked. I worked at a car wash. I also worked at a coffee shop with my grandfather. After a day or two, I would just get fed up.”
He was even more fed up after one fruitless 3,600km round trip for trials with two clubs in Florianopolis: Figueirense and Avaí. Then came another long trip, for “make or break” trials in Belo Horizonte. “It was a rainy day. My dad took me to the bus terminal and I remember having a one-way ticket, plus the money to buy the return ticket in case I didn’t make it. But after 11 hours of travelling, I was hungry. Every time the bus stopped, I looked at the money and thought, ‘I have to eat something.’
“I spent almost all the money I had, because at those bus stops everything was very expensive. So when I arrived in Belo Horizonte, I had no money to get back in case I didn’t get through the trial. At the training ground at night, we spent most of the time in the accommodation, and there was a bakery in front of it. So we went there to buy some biscuits, and I also bought some for the lads with the rest of the money for the ticket. I just didn’t care because I was very confident. That is a day that I will remember forever because if I hadn’t made it, I would not have known what to do.”
Richarlison and his family – including his father – share a moment after the final whistle on Matchday 1 (right)
Richarlison and his family – including his father – share a moment after the final whistle on Matchday 1 (right)
“My dad always dreamed of becoming a footballer. It’s important for me to make that dream a reality, and for him to be here so that he can see it first-hand”
Richarlison describes himself as an ‘aggressive goalscorer’
What was missing at Everton was Champions League football – a point he underlines with a story. “On a day off while I was still at Everton, l got my friends together and we had a kick-about on a pitch close to my home. When I stepped onto the pitch, they played the Champions League anthem. I posted it on my social media and loads of people commented on it. Even during that kickabout it gave me chills, as that Champions League anthem is very special.”
At Tottenham he can hear it for real, following his June transfer for a club-record fee that could rise to £60m. He explains that a phone conversation with Antonio Conte, the manager, was pivotal in deciding his destination. “From all the offers arriving, Tottenham’s was the only one where the manager called and spoke to me. He told me he was counting on me, that he knew I can play in all three attacking positions, so I would be very important for him and for the club,” says Richarlison. “That made me feel confident to come, because all a player wants is a manager who shows trust in him.”
And just what have Tottenham acquired in the Brazilian? He begins with a précis: “Aggressive. Goalscorer. I do score lots of goals, don’t I? That’s my style – not only at the club but also with Brazil.” In his international career he has 17 from 38 games going into the World Cup (not to mention an Olympic gold medal, won in 2021). He goes on: “So I guess I am this aggressive player always seeking to score more, who can assist when a colleague gives a better alternative. But my main characteristic is to score.”
As well as his goals for the national team, Richarlison is known back home for his social conscience. He organises an annual charity match in Nova Venécia to raise funds to feed families in his home state – spectators have been asked to bring a kilo of food in lieu of an entrance fee – and he also arranged for the delivery of 500 food parcels to households there during the Coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, he regularly uses his Twitter account to comment on social causes in his home country. Two examples: speaking out after the death in 2020 of João Alberto Silveira Freitas, a black welder, after a beating by two white security guards in a Porto Alegre supermarket; and demanding “Oxigênio para Manaus!!” after hospitals in the city of Manaus ran out of oxygen for Covid patients during the pandemic.
Back on the pitch, at Everton he shone most brightly in a left-sided attacking role; for Brazil, he operates centrally. At Tottenham, as with his country, he wears the No9 on his back, but on his Champions League debut he played behind Kane, on the right, and caught the eye with his movement between the lines. He is not a dribbler but offers plenty besides: speed, technique, power, tenacity, hunger. Plus that sheer love of a ball at his feet – or on his head, as Marseille’s defenders can attest.
There is more. “I’m also tactically obedient, always following what the manager asks. Any mistake, even from us forwards or midfielders, is fatal, so we always have to be in position. These days I’m more intelligent because I’ve worked with many managers, and they’ve helped me a lot. I improved myself a lot. I feel that I’m at the best moment of my life and my career, so I think there are only good things to come.”
As for the pressure of a club-record fee, he is nonplussed. “Honestly, that pressure began when I was at América-MG. When I went to Fluminense, I was also the most expensive signing; the fans felt puzzled about that, but I always pay it back.” (That his first goal for the Brazilian club won a derby at Flamengo certainly helped.)
He adds: “At the beginning, everybody will be critical and tell people I’m not worth the money. But in the end, I always do the job and make the fans happy by doing my best. The same thing happened at Everton: many criticised me, saying that I was not worth such money, yet they’ve seen that I was worth every penny they spent on me. I’ll do the best I can to make that happen here too and silence the critics.” On Matchday 1, he made the perfect start.
Scoring his second header against Marseille (top left)
Scoring his second header against Marseille (top left)
