Former Italy international insists Richarlison is ‘horrible’

Former player Antonio Cassano, 40, criticized striker Richarlison, 25, during a program on Italian TV Rai, where he comments on the World Cup.

Even after the Brazilian’s two goals against Serbia, on Thursday (24), the former striker of the Italian national team said that Richarlison “is very weak” and “couldn’t control the ball in the play of the second goal”, which he scored of volley.

“There are 25 wonderful, wonderful players. Only one thing is missing from Brazil. The game was unwatchable, Richarlison is very weak. I insist: Richarlison did not take the ball until the 70th minute. bicycle. Yes, yes, he missed the domain, he is unwatchable. He has nothing to do with the great Brazilian strikers. This is Brazil’s weak point”, said the former player.

“The truth is that, in the second goal, he controlled badly and hit the shot, while the other was kicking into an empty net”, he added.

It’s not the first time Cassano has made such comments. After the announcement of the Brazilian squad for the Cup, he made similar criticisms of Richarlison, contesting the striker’s inclusion in the list and the cut of Roberto Firmino, 31.

“For me, it’s fair that Tite is cursed, because he can’t summon Richarlison, who is very weak, and not Firmino, who is a phenomenon. Richarlison is horrible. Yes, yes, Tottenham paid 75 million euros for him. Question: how is it possible to have Firmino at your disposal, who has had a great recovery this year, and choose Richarlison, who doesn’t know how to control a ball. It’s scandalous. “

Cassano acted as a second striker and was revealed in Bari. He had a good spell at Roma in the early 2000s, but ended up leaving the club due to relationship problems with the board and players. He went to Real Madrid, but did not stand out among the meringues and was loaned to Sampdoria, where he became an idol.

Even embraced by the Genoese club, he fell out with the club’s president, Riccardo Garrone, and transferred to Milan. There, he played well, but had a stroke, which sidelined him from the fields. Still, he managed to recover in time to compete for Italy in Euro 2012, being runner-up.

After that, he had spells erased by Internazionale, Parma, Sampdoria and Verona. Today he is a commentator alongside other former players such as Christian Vieri, Nicola Ventola and Lele Adani on the Bobo TV program, on Rai, the Italian state broadcaster. Italy did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

For the Italian national team, Cassano played in the 2014 World Cup. He was benched and entered against Costa Rica and Uruguay, two 1-0 defeats by Azzura, who fell in the group stage in that edition.

In total, both Richarlison and Cassano have the same number of appearances for their national teams: 39. Cassano, however, has ten goals, nine less than the Brazilian. Richarlison also has seven assists, compared to four for the Italian.