London. — Richarlison beats Brazilian team-mate Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to win the World Cup goal of the tournament award for his outrageous strike against Serbia after he flicked the ball up and volleyed home a scissor kick
Richarlison’s stunning bicycle kick against Serbia has been voted the best goal of the 2022 World Cup.
The Brazil forward’s stunning strike came in the 73rd minute of the South American side’s opening game of the tournament to wrap up a 2-0 victory.
FIFA revealed that the strike has been voted by fans as the goal of the tournament — beating the likes of Brazilian team-mate Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to the award.
Richarlison had plenty of work to do when he received the ball from a Vinicius Jr cross with his back to goal in the box.
The Tottenham attacker though flicked the ball up in the air with his first touch and then connected with a stunning bicycle kick into the bottom corner past Serbia keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
It was the Brazilian’s second goal of the match and he would go on to score a brilliant team goal in his side’s 4-1 last-16 victory over South Korea.
That goal saw him juggle the ball under pressure and link up with Marquinhos and Thiago Silva with the latter rolling the ball through to Richarlison to find the back of the net.
His team-mate Neymar meanwhile scored a brilliant goal in extra-time in the following round against Croatia on the end of a stunning team-move which some thought was the goal of the tournament.
Croatia ultimately pulled level and would reach the semi-finals with a shock penalty shoot-out win over Brazil.
Others also felt that Kylian Mbappe’s volley to level the score at 2-2 in the final against Argentina could be a contender for the prize.
Richarlison received praise from BBC pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards for his bicycle kick.
Former England striker Alan Shearer said the technique on the shot was ‘incredible,’ while Micah Richards said it ‘showed why he’s Brazil’s number nine.’
Richarlison now turns his attention to Tottenham, though Antonio Conte in his press conference ahead of their game with Brentford talked about the hamstring injury the Brazilian suffered against Croatia.
He said: ‘I followed all my players at the World Cup with my fingers crossed, because you know very well you can lose important players, and it happened with Richarlison, who had a problem, (Rodrigo) Bentancur and Ben Davies.’
Asked how long he expected Richarlison to be out for, Antonio replied: ‘I spoke with the medical department, they told me we need three to four weeks. His injury was a serious injury.’ – The Herald
