Micah Richards was confused by Richarlison’s back tattoo of his own face, alongside international team-mate Neymar and Brazilian legend Ronaldo.
The Tottenham star revealed his tattoo as he took off his shirt to celebrate their 93rd-minute equalizer when they were three goals behind against Liverpool on Sunday.
Despite wild celebrations after scoring his first Premier League goal for the club, Spurs lost the match when Diogo Jota scored for Jurgen Klopp’s side a minute later.
Richards could be heard laughing in the background as Richarlison’s tattoo was brought up for discussion on BBC Five Live’s The Monday Night Club.
When asked why he laughed, Richards replied: “That’s a bit funny, isn’t it?”
‘I mean R9 (Ronaldo) is a legend of the game. Neymar has done well for himself but why did you give him a tattoo?’
Explaining his point of view, he added: ‘Neymar is an excellent player but strangely, he still plays.
‘I mean if I was like the retired players I would understand, but Neymar is his teammate.
‘It’s like I got a tattoo of Daniel Sturridge. I mean I like him, I love him, he’s a quality player but I wouldn’t get a tattoo of him.’
Richards was teammates with Sturridge at Man City before Sturridge moved to Chelsea in 2009.
The mammoth tattoo on Richarlison’s back shows him in the center, with Ronaldo on the left and Neymar on the right.
He debuted his new ink on Instagram in December, sharing footage of artist @dom.tattoo during the World Cup, where Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Croatia.
Explaining his tattoo in an interview with GQ magazine, Richarlison said: ‘Ronaldo was my hero when I first started playing football.
‘Neymar belongs to my generation, but a few years before me. I want to play like him and have hair like him.’
‘And then I added myself, because I was also inspired by myself.’
The tattoo also features a child looking out over the slums wearing a Richarlison jersey and baseball cap.
Richarlison got his first tattoo in 2020 and has amassed a growing collection over the past three years.
There have been a lot of shocking tattoos seen in recent years in the Premier League.
Everton player Dele Alli has numerous TV and video game cartoon stars including Super Mario, Rick and Morty and Stewie from Family Guy tattooed on his body.
During his time at Tottenham, Alli showed off his new sleeve featuring those characters in a video with then-teammate Sergio Reguillon.
Manchester United star Jadon Sancho also showed his love for cartoon characters by getting a tattoo of the Simpsons family on his arm.
Arsenal star Emile Smith Rowe has a watch with Roman numerals printed on his left arm, above a highly detailed lion face.
But instead of the usual 12 numbers on a watch, Smith Rowe’s tattoo has 13 numbers on his face while the number 4 on his arm is also written as ‘IIII’ instead of ‘IV’.
Richarlison is not the only player with tattoos on his body, as former Man City player and current Bayern Munich star Leroy Sane has a tattoo of him celebrating a goal on his back.
One of the strangest tattoos seen in recent years is that of former Liverpool defender Alberto Moreno, who has a monkey holding a gun on his right thigh.
Perhaps the worst tattoo of any former Premier League player belongs to Artur Boruc, who decided to get a monkey tattoo around his navel.