Richarlison has attempted to explain his reasoning for demanding to take Everton’s penalty in Saturday’s win over Brighton. Despite having to give the ball up, Richarlison did celebrate with the rest of the team and on Saturday evening, tried to clarify why he wanted to take the spot-kick ahead of the player picked to do so by the manager. In response to an image of the incident on Instagram, a comment written in Portuguese from Richarlison’s official account read: “For those who don’t know here, there is a hierarchy where I waited for three years to get my turn.” Rafa Benitez explained after the game, Calvert-Lewin is the designated taker and will hit the first penalty Everton are awarded in a game while Richarlison will take the second if the Blues are awarded another.
Rafa Benitez said: “With the penalty, (Dominic Calvert-Lewin) is the first taker, Richarlison knows he’s the second one. The main thing is that he scored, we won. We have to compete in training to see who scores more penalties, but at the moment Dominic is the first one. We had this conversation before and I told him if we have two penalties, the first one is Dominic’s and the second one is his. Obviously he wants to score goals, which is normal. I am pleased because Dominic scored, we played well and we won, so everyone has to be happy with that. Richy will understand that.”
Saturday’s drama is far from the first time Everton players have squabbled over a penalty though.
