Richarlison, a Brazilian striker, scored three goals in the second half as Tottenham Hotspur rallied to defeat Lion City Sailors 5-1 in a pre-season friendly on Wednesday at Singapore’s National Stadium.
The match was played in Singapore. Lion City Sailors was the home team.
Shawal Anuar gave the Sailors an unanticipated lead after 14 minutes of play, but Harry Kane’s penalty shot with the last kick of the first half brought the Premier League team back on even terms. The Sailors had taken an unexpected lead.
Richarlison was substituted in at the break and scored twice inside the opening eight minutes of the second half. He then completed his hat trick in stoppage time after Giovani Lo Celso had scored the fourth goal for Spurs.
Because Tottenham were only playing their second preseason game of their Asia-Pacific tour, manager Ange Postecoglou decided to start a strong lineup that allowed them to dominate the first half of the game. The match against Leicester City that was scheduled to take place in Bangkok on Sunday was called off.
But against the flow of play, the Sailors seized the lead when Shawal bundled in a cross from Maxime Lestienne coming in from the right and scoring at the far post.
Spurs ramped up their offensive efforts, and James Maddison came near to scoring with a long-range attempt that was stopped by Zharfan Rohaizad of the Sailors with a stunning diving save.
Although Son Heung-min scored with a header after 26 minutes, the goal was disallowed because he was offside, and Pape Matar Sarr came close to scoring with a shot that just missed the crossbar.
However, Tottenham’s persistent pressure paid off in the dying seconds of the first half when Sarr was taken down inside the Sailors’ penalty area. Kane stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick and sent Zharfan the wrong way from the spot to tie the game.
During the halftime break, Postecoglou made 11 substitutions, and his new lineup seized the lead just three minutes after the game was restarted.
Richarlison was able to put the ball into the goal after Lo Celso’s shot was deflected by a defender and falling into an ideal position for him to do so.
The Brazilian player scored his second goal of the match five minutes after the first when he capitalized on a poor back-header to guide the ball into the back of the net.
Despite the fact that the offside flag prevented the Tottenham striker from scoring a hat-trick on two separate occasions, his team was able to score a fourth goal in the 73rd minute when Lo Celso finished a loose ball that was within the six-yard box.
And Richarlison’s perseverance paid off in the nick of time as he broke through the middle of the Sailors’ defensive line and flicked in his third goal of the game to make the score 5-1.