Richarlison’s stunning scissor kick was hailed as ‘the goal of the tournament so far,’ as Brazil began their FIFA World Cup campaign with an ultimately comfortable 2-0 win over Serbia.
It was the 25-year-old’s second goal of the night after breaking the deadlock with a tap-in when Vanja Milinkovic-Savic parried Vinicius Jr’s initial shot into his path.
However, it was his second goal which will have plenty of tongues wagging as he swivelled himself superbly to fire a shot past Milinkovic-Savic and end Serbian resistance.
Reaction to the goal was flooding in on social media, with Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker – both working on BBC’s coverage of the game taking time out to tweet their adulation for the strike before the game even finished.
Lineker said: “Stunning goal from @richarlison97. Beautiful!
The sentiment was echoed by fellow former England striker Shearer, who tweeted: “Oh my, what a goal that is from Richarlison.”
Richarlison has now scored nine goals in his last seven games for Brazil, with Lineker pointing out that the Tottenham winger had become the second Brazilian to score multiple goals on his World Cup debut this century after Neymar in 2014.
Speaking about the goal, Lineker asked 2002 World Cup winner Gilberto Silva if it was the goal of the tournament so far, to which he replied: “So far yes, it was quite impressive to see him score that goal! But he deserved it and he’s doing a great job for Brazil.”
Meanwhile, Shearer admits he took just as much pleasure from the Tottenham forward’s first toal of the night, and added: “His goals were very different. His first one was a poacher’s goal, which gave me as much satisfaction as seeing the incredible volley and the touch and everything else.
“He’s a man in form in that yellow shirt. He’s yet to score in the Premier League for Spurs this season, but for Brazil he’s on fire.”
Micah Richards also spoke about the divisive nature of Richarlison’s style of play, but feels he has done enough to justify being Brazil’s first choice striker.
“Richarlison is like marmite at times, but today he showed why he is Brazil’s number nine” he explained.
“You’ve got the likes of (Gabriel) Jesus on the bench and (Roberto) Firmino is at home, but he showed today why he is Brazil’s number nine.”
Brazil are back in action next Monday when they face Switzerland, who also got off to a winning start in Group G with a 1-0 victory over Cameroon earlier on Thursday.
