Ex-FIFA official: ‘Dangerous’ Richarlison should’ve been sent off in Everton v Chelsea
Richarlison should have been sent off for throwing an active flare into the Everton fans after he scored against Chelsea, according to Keith Hackett.
After Richarlison scored the only goal of the game in Everton’s 1-0 win at Goodison Park, a blue flare was thrown by a fan onto the pitch.
Richarlison then picked up the flare and appeared to throw it back into the direction of the fans.
After seeing footage of the Brazilian forward doing that, former FIFA and Premier League referee Hackett took to Twitter to say Kevin Friend should’ve shown a red card.
“This is a red card offence and the player should have been dismissed,” said Hackett.
“You cannot pick up an active flare and throw it into the crowd.
“It is a dangerous act and would be interpreted in the laws of the game under Violent Conduct.”
Not right
We cannot disagree with Hackett here.
Sky Sports’ commentators made no comment about Richarlison doing that, neither did their pundits and host at full-time.
However, the incident was very clear on Sky Sports’ cameras and we can only pray that Richarlison’s mindless action didn’t lead to anyone getting hurt.
It was stupid of a fan to throw that onto the pitch and poor by Everton’s stewards to let a flare get into the stadium.
But it was even more stupid by Richarlison to throw an active, burning flare into an area full of people of all ages.
How did VAR not see such a blatant incident?
It might lead to a three-match ban for Richarlison if Hackett is right about the violent conduct issue.
And that would be disastrous for the Toffees as the Brazilian has been in very good goalscoring form lately.
In other Everton news, Stan Collymore has taken a big swipe at this 25-year-old who he suggests is taking the Blues down to the Championship.
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