Raphinha scores a free-kick for Leeds and pays homage to Marília Mendonça

This Sunday, Raphinha paid tribute to Marília Mendonça, who died as a result of a plane crash on Friday. By scoring a free kick in Leeds’ 1-1 draw with Leicester for the 11th round of the Premier League, the Brazilian lifted his shirt to display a special tribute to the “queen of suffering”

“These last few days have been pretty sad. When I found out what had happened, I was very shaken. I couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t so close to Marília Mendonça, but he admired her a lot. Since I was a child, my family and I have always been very connected to the world of music and what she had been doing since she was little was something special. He was a different person with a unique talent. It revolutionized the segment and was well liked by everyone. Always with high spirits and irreverence. I also cannot fail to mention that, besides her, other people lost their lives in this tragic accident and I wish the hearts of family and friends who stayed here a lot of strength and love. May God help you to overcome this pain of yours”, he affirmed.

On the field, Raphinha opened the scoring for Leeds against Leicester. It was the athlete’s fifth goal in ten games in the Premier League, a fact that places him as the team’s top scorer and the Brazilian with the most goals in the national competition. In the overall ranking, he is fifth, behind only Sadio Mané (6), Michail Antonio (6), Jamie Vardy (7) and Mohamed Salah (10).

“About the goal, I’m happy to help the team again. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the victory, which was our goal, but we have to emphasize that we’re up against Leicester, a very strong team that has been showing this in recent years”, he declared.

With a 1-1 draw, Leeds went to 11 points and moved up to 15th place on the leaderboard. Leicester, with 15, is in 12th place.