West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá hit out at a lack of “psychological support” from football authorities, in an astonishing online outburst in the wake of his bizarre sending-off late on during his side’s 2-0 defeat by Liverpool.
The 28-year-old midfielder, who was left in limbo for two years during a Football Association investigation into spot-fixing allegations, was shown two yellow cards, both for dissent, within seconds of one another by the referee Darren England.
Players from both sides had tried to cool Paquetá’s protests following the initial caution, but after seemingly being successfully ushered away, he returned to harangue the official once more and was sent off.
The Brazil international was finally cleared of the FA charges in July but the case likely caused a mooted £70m move to Manchester City to stall in the summer of 2023.
Writing in Portuguese on XPaquetá initially said: “I understand that now I have to come across as the villain; it’s hard to live with everything that’s been caused in my life and in my psyche! I’ll keep trying to ensure they don’t affect me even more. This doesn’t justify my expulsion, and for that I apologise to the fans and my teammates!”
This was then followed by a reply to a post from the Sky Sports Premier League account, which featured a clip where Rob Green, the former West Ham goalkeeper on punditry duty for the broadcaster, referred to his red card as “ridiculous behaviour”.
This time writing in English, Paquetá posted: “It’s ridiculous to have your life and career affected for two years without any psychological support from the federation. Perhaps this ridiculous behaviour is just a reflection of everything I’ve had to endure and, it seems, have to continue enduring! I’m sorry if I’m not perfect.”
Post-match, West Ham’s head coach, Nuno Espírito Santo, lamented the difficulty of playing with 10 players, with Liverpool having gone on to double their lead eight minutes after Paquetá’s dismissal. “It’s hard to play against a team like Liverpool with one man less,” he said. “I will not go much further on comments of the situation – I hope you understand. Just allow me to speak with Lucas first and try to understand.
“I want to have a private conversation, to try to understand. I think it’s unfair not to make any kind of comment without a chance to speak with him.”
