Arsenal beat Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but the tense ending saw tensions flare between players.
Tottenham Hotspur striker Richarlison appeared to lose his cool at the end of Sunday’s north London derby against Arsenal as he squared up to Gunners star Gabriel Magalhães after full-time.
Mikel Arteta’s side kept their hopes of clinching the Premier League title alive with a 3-2 victory over their local rivals, although had to cling on to the three points in the second half as Spurs came back from a 3-0 deficit at half-time. An 87th-minute Son Heung-min penalty made for a frenzied end to the match with derby day passions running high.
Often one to get caught up in the emotion of a match, Richarlison looked to be particularly fired up as he confronted Gabriel after the end of the match. The two players are rivals in the Premier League, but teammates for national side Brazil, making the confrontation a head-turning moment.
Richarlison had narrowly avoided a card for barging into his Brazil teammate earlier in the match and clearly still had some pressing thoughts to share with the Arsenal man. In an exclusive video captured by LondonWorld’s Chris Wheatley, Richarlison can be seen being pulled away from a heated debate with Gabriel and Ben White as Giovani Lo Celso ran over to get involved for Spurs.
Reacting to the clip online one football follower labelled Richarlison as ‘the next Balotelli’ while another slammed the Spurs man’s ‘character’. Another added: “Brazil team gatherings will be fun.”
Analysing to his side’s latest win and the hair-raising ending, after the match Mikel Arteta said: “I was praying when Spurs put the ball in our box. It was a really emotional game, a really tough place to come in this stadium and a tough team to play against.
“We were 3-0 up, in control of the game, then in the second half we were dominating the game and creating chances. Then an individual error happens, that puts a message in your brain. We were dealing with the situations better, another [goal] and then it’s game on.
“They have the players and the quality to commit a lot of players forward. We had to suffer and react and I’m very pleased that we did.”
