Tottenham Hotspur’s striker, Richarlison, has voiced his discontent with manager Antonio Conte’s decision to bench him during the UEFA Champions League last-16 exit on Wednesday.

The Brazilian footballer has criticized the Italian coach while also acknowledging that Spurs’ performance this season has been poor. The team was eliminated from the tournament by AC Milan after failing to score in both legs, resulting in a 1-0 aggregate defeat by the Serie A club.

Despite being signed for £60 million ($71.21 million), Richarlison has struggled to secure game time under Conte, who only gave him 20 minutes to play against AC Milan in the 0-0 draw at home.

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Richarlison said, “I didn’t understand… I was playing well, we won against Chelsea and West Ham (United) and suddenly I was on the bench. I played five minutes against Wolves, asked the reason and no one told me why.” He also mentioned that he had taken a fitness test in the gym on Tuesday and was told he would start against AC Milan if he passed, but he was still on the bench.

Richarlison expressed his frustration with the lack of explanations from Conte, stating that he was a hardworking professional who wanted to play.

Richarlison scored three times for Brazil at the Qatar World Cup but has only managed to score two goals for Tottenham this season. He is yet to score for the club in the English Premier League, where they currently rank fourth. Richarlison criticized Spurs’ weak attack against AC Milan, saying that the team failed to test the Italian side and exited the competition without putting up much of a fight.

He acknowledged that this season has been “shit,” and that his focus now is to get into the starting lineup for their upcoming match against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. He aims to score as many goals as possible to repay the club for their investment in him.