As Brazil had to cling on to ward off a late recovery against a 10-man Germany, Richarlison made history by becoming the first Premier League player to score a hat-trick at an Olympic Games.
Andre Jardine’s team got off to a flying start after only six minutes of play as Ajax winger Antony placed Richarlison through on goal, with the Everton star needing a couple of attempts to beat Florian Muller in goal. Richarlison got his second of the game after only 15 minutes when he got his head on the end of Arana’s cross to catch the German defence off guard.
After collecting Matheus Cunha’s ball and looping his effort into the far corner of Muller’s net on the half-hour mark, Richarlison created history by becoming the first Premier League player to achieve a hat-trick at the Games. Brazil were on fire, and it should have been 4-0 just before halftime if Muller hadn’t saved Cunha’s penalty attempt in first-half stoppage time. Fortunately for Germany, Nadiem Amiri forced Santos into a goalkeeping blunder, with the Brazilian goalkeeper failing to keep the low volleyed effort out.
The Germans were down to ten players after Max Arnold was ruthlessly sent off for a second bookable offence, leaving Stefan Kuntz’s troops with a mountain to climb after being awarded a lifeline. Throughout the second 45 minutes, Brazil continued to threaten and should have expanded their advantage on several occasions, but Muller was able to keep the score low late in the game.
With the odds stacked against them and minutes remaining, Germany scored again through substitute Ragnar Ache, who cut the lead to one goal in the 83rd minute to force a game-time decision. While Brazil missed numerous opportunities to put the game out of reach, Paulinho was able to restore a two-goal deficit in stoppage time to make the score 4-2.
