Brazil coach Tite denies he showed a lack of respect by joining in Richarlison’s pigeon dance

Richarlison scored a great goal to nab Brazil’s third in their first-half demolition of South Korea – and then got everyone to do the pigeon dance.

The Tottenham striker laid off a pass to Marquinhos, who played the ball to Chelsea’s Thiago Silva, who sent it back Richarlison’s way to make a superb finish just before the half-hour mark. 

He then got the entire Brazil bench – including their 61-year-old manager Tite – to do his trademark pigeon dance celebration. 

Brazil went in at half-time four goals to the good against South Korea, but their Asian opponents pulled one back with 15 minutes remaining. The match finished 4-1 to Brazil, who advance to face Croatia on Friday. 

Richarlison scored in Brazil’s game with South Korea, and took his pigeon dance to boss Tite

Speaking to reporters after the game, Tite denied claims that he had shown a lack of respect to South Korea by taking part in the pre-planned celebration.

Tite revealed: ‘I said (to Richarlison) if you show it to me I’ll do it, but we have to be careful because various people will say it was disrespectful.

‘I didn’t want it to be misinterpreted as anything less than a sense of happiness for the goal and for the result, and not that we were disrespecting our opponent which was not the case.’

The goal was Richarlison’s third in the tournament so far, and he was pleased their practice was not wasted. ‘We rehearsed it together with our coach in the team hotel and I am happy we had a chance to use it.’

Richarlison consoled a crying Son Heung-min after his Spurs teammate was eliminated

He also consoled his Spurs teammate Son Heung-min, who was in tears as his South Korea team were eliminated at the final whistle. Richarlison added: ‘Football is like that. One of us is going to win. One is going to lose. I wish him all the best because we need him at Tottenham.’

However, his performance in getting Brazil’s third of the night brought joy to social media users. 

After the 25-year-old’s goal, one Twitter user wrote: ‘Richarlison still has the best goal of the tournament’, while another said: ‘Richarlison is scoring the most beautiful goals ever. Period.’

Fans hailed the nature of Richarlison’s goal, Brazil’s third in a dominant first-half display

While some hailed the nature of the Spurs’ man’s finish, others were quick to enjoy the celebration that followed, which took place right in front of the Brazil bench.

Richarlison did not make the Pombo (or pigeon) dance himself, but co-opted the dance of the little-known pop group Os Perseguidores after scoring his debut international goal back in 2018. 

The pigeon dance has remained popular in Brazil, and Richarlison was able to get his teammates and bosses to do it after scoring their third of the night – much to the delight of Twitter users.  

One said: ‘NAHHH NO WAY RICHARLISON MADE TITE DO THE PIGEON’. A second wrote: ‘I’m crying they really got Tite involved in the dancing’. Alongside a sequence of crying laughter emojis, a third wrote: ‘Whole bench doing the pigeon’. 

Fans enjoyed seeing the Brazil bench do Richarlison’s famous pigeon dance celebration after

Fans on social media were overjoyed seeing Tite and the bench do the pigeon celebration

It has been a celebratory time for Brazil at the Stadium 974, which will be taken down after this match. 

First half goals from Vinicius Jr, Neymar, Richarlison and Lucas Paqueta set up Brazil’s path to the quarter-finals with a fine display of goals, while South Korea were unable to handle the attacking riches of their South American opponents. 

The Asian side did score with 15 minutes remaining through substitute Paik Seung-ho, but the damage had already been done. 

Richarlison was one of four goalscorers for Tite’s side as they were ruthless in the first half