Richarlison denied James Maddison the chance to score his first penalty goal – only for the ex-Everton star to produce a great penalty shoot.
Richarlison made his first Europa League appearance tonight against AZ alkmaar fc playing to 64 minute before taking off
But he had the opportunity to score his first goal, from the penalty spot,
However, richarlison decided to take the spot kick, even thoughMaddison wanted to take it instead.
The Brazilian has netted nine goals in his last 13 starts for Spurs across all competitions, while he’s no stranger to European nights at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Richarlison scored a brace in his first ever European game for the club, doing so in a 2-0 win over Marseille in the UEFA Champions League. He’s a man for these types of occasions.
Indeed, though he’s not always had the desired precision, Richarlison has been typically effervescent when he’s played for Spurs in the Ange Postecoglou era. Since the Australian has been in charge, he is the player who has averaged the most shots per 90 across all competitions (3.5).
He also averages over one shot on target per 90 in that time (1.4), which is also the highest of any Spurs player to appear in both campaigns.
Spurs have won eight of their last 11 home matches across all competitions, and the games they didn’t were either against Manchester City (two defeats) or Arsenal (one defeat).
When they’re not playing against the absolute cream of the crop, the Lilywhites are a pretty unstoppable force for the rest of sides making the trip there. Indeed, of the eight wins in this run they’ve scored a total of 24 goals, at an average of exactly three per game.
AZ Alkmaar may come into this one on a four-game losing run, but don’t expect them to be a total pushover come game time here.
They had a man sent off after 10 minutes in their 2-1 defeat to PSV last time out, and they also had to go to San Mames to face Athletic Bilbao within the run – one of the toughest trips you can make in the Europa League.
Besides, it was only just over a month ago that they won 9-1 in a league game against Heerenveen – a game in which they racked up an absurd 19 shots on target.
Speaking of that game, former Spurs man Troy Parrott helped himself to four goals in that one. On his presumed return to his old side, you have to fancy him to be a threat on the night and at least be sharp in his hunt for a symbolic goal.
Parrott has netted 23 goals across all competitions at club level since the start of last season (six this season), and is already off the mark in the Europa League this term.
Overall, I think on home soil Spurs should still be plenty capable of securing the three points here, but I’ll back AZ to do enough to earn themselves at least one goal in the process.
