Tottenham forward Richarlison left the pitch in tears at St Mary's Stadium after picking up an injury inside the opening few minutes against Southampton on Saturday.
Richarlison was given a start by Spurs boss Antonio Conte in another show of faith, following their recent war of words. He would have been eyeing his first Premier League goal for Tottenham against the league's bottom side, but it all went wrong within a few minutes.
The Brazilian pulled up with an injury early on and Conte was forced to bring on Dejan Kulusevski in the fifth minute. He trudged off the pitch with his head down as tears filled up in his eyes. He pulled his shirt over his head before being consoled by Conte and Saints boss Ruben Selles.
The match got even more bizarre minutes later when Southampton centre-back Armel Bella-Kotchap was also forced off after landing on his shoulder following a challenge with Ben Davies.
The two substitutions, inside the first eight minutes, meant that the match made Premier League history. Data gatherers Opta reported that the game is the earliest in which both teams have made a substitution in a Premier League match.
The injuries kept on coming, too, with Davies replaced by Ivan Perisic and Jan Bednarek swapped for Ainsley Maitland-Niles before the first half was done. It was just the second time in Premier League history that both sides had made two substitutions each before half time, after Newcastle vs Wigan in April 2006.
The injury comes the week after Richarlison clashed with Conte in the aftermath of their Champions League exit at the hands of AC Milan. "This season, excuse the word, it's been s***, because I don't have minutes, I suffered a little with the injury." Richarlison told TNT Sports. "But, when I enter the field, I give my life. I came from two games well, I think that's it, I think I should have played and I don't have to cry about it."
He complained about being dropped to the bench after starting in wins against West Ham and Chelsea. He added: "Yesterday [Tuesday], they asked me to take a test at the gym, that if I was good I would go to the game and, at the time of the game, they left me on the bench. These are things that it is not possible to understand.
"Let's see what he will say tomorrow, but there are no fools here either, I'm a professional, I work every day and I want to play. There are minutes left, time left."
Conte hit back hard. "First of all, I watched the interview of Richarlison. He didn't criticise me," Conte said last Friday. "He said his season was s***, and he's right. His season has been not good.
"He had injuries, played and scored in the Champions League and then went to the World Cup and then had a serious injury. He's scored no goals for us. I think he was really honest to say his season was not good. His season has not finished yet. If he deserves to play, I'll give him the opportunity."
He added: "For the rest of the interview, I think he (Richarlison) made a mistake. When you speak of 'I' and not 'us', you are being selfish."
