Liverpool fans are sure to welcome one piece of team news from Tottenham Hotspur head coach Roberto De Zerbi ahead of the Carabao Cup clash between the clubs on Tuesday night.
Both sides are likely to feature several changes from their respective Premier League fixtures at the weekend, with Andoni Iraola already confirming that Giorgi Mamardashvili will start in goal as Alisson Becker is rested.
The Basque’s opposite number has had to deal with a complex situation regarding Richarlison, whose request to leave Spurs in the final days of the summer transfer window went unfulfilled, with the ex-Everton forward left out of the north London club’s top-flight squad for this season (BBC Sport).
The Brazil international is eligible to feature in the Carabao Cup, but De Zerbi is adamant that the 29-year-old won’t have any involvement at Anfield tomorrow night.
When asked about the forward in his pre-match press conference, the Spurs head coach replied (via football.london): “Richarlison, you already know everything, so nothing changes with the Carabao Cup or Premier League. [Reporter: Richarlison won’t be involved even though he can play?] No.”
The Italian continued: “I said in the last last press conference, I know what happened in the last 45 days. It’s not right if I explained. It’s not my behaviour, the relationship. The problem is between the player and the club. I stay within the club. It’s coach and club together.
“At the start of this season I spoke to him many times to convince him to stay and he didn’t want to. I can’t go every day to pray for him to stay.”
It’d be an understatement to say that Richarlison has a bit of history when it comes to playing against Liverpool, especially at Anfield.
Five of his six goals against us have come at the Reds’ home ground, including a stoppage time equaliser for Spurs in April 2023 which was cancelled out by Diogo Jota’s last-gasp winner, and a 90th-minute leveller last season which did earn the struggling visitors a point.
In the reverse fixture in north London last December, the ex-Evertonian disgracefully pushed Hugo Ekitike in the back of the neck while the LFC striker was face-down on the ground and then ran to ‘celebrate’ in Dominik Szoboszlai’s face after scoring for his side to pull a goal back in their 2-1 defeat.
However, with De Zerbi clearly in no mood to extend the olive branch to Richarlison despite his eligibility for the Carabao Cup, the provocateur-in-chief won’t be on the pitch to do damage to Liverpool this time around.
While we never like to see players missing out due to injury, the circumstances behind the Brazilian’s absence are rather different, and the home fans won’t exactly miss him tomorrow night given his extensive previous when it comes to facing the Reds.
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