Tottenham boss Antonio Conte calls for fan who hurled banana at Richarlison to be banned for LIFE after sick incident
ANTONIO CONTE called for the vile fan who hurled a banana at Richarlison to be banned for life.
Tottenham star Richarlison was the subject of the racist gesture after scoring for Brazil in their friendly win over Tunisia at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Tuesday.
His club manager Conte now wants the shameful culprit to face the consequences.
The Italian said: “I think what happened is incredible because in 2022, to be witnessing this type of situation is embarrassing for everybody.
“For sure I hope this person can be banned from football for the rest of their life.”
Richarlison himself has also called for the individual to be identified and punished.
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While the ex-Everton star also urged the football authorities to do more to tackle racist abuse, labelling their current response to incidents such as his as “blah blah blah”.
It was a regretful end to what had been a very positive international break playing-wise for Richalison, as he netted three goals in two games against Ghana and Tunisia.
Conte himself was saddened that instead of being able to focus on his player’s impressive form, the disgusting incident had overshadowed proceedings.
He added: “It is very disappointing to make a comment about this.
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“I want to take the best part of the game from Richy and he scored two goals, three goals and he enjoyed playing with Brazil.”
Following the vile incident, Richarlison said: “I was talking about this with (Roberto) Firmino, saying that I think God did not allow me to see that because I don’t know what I could have done in the heat of the moment.
“May this fan be identified and punished.
“It’s hard. You see what happened with Vinicius Jr. recently and now this, inside a stadium… May this incident teach other people not to do it.”