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Journalism of Courage
West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta has reacted to his red card in the Premier League match against Liverpool on Sunday, admitting that he had been through a harrowing phase in the last two years, with limited psychological help from his federation.
The 28-year-old was sent off by the referee, Darren England, for going overboard with his argument, surrounding a foul awarded against the Hammers in the final stages of the match, which his side lost 2-0.
“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,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
In a later post, Paqueta apologised for his behaviour, adding that it had been hard for him to live with everything that he had to endure in his life mentally.
“I understand that now I have to come across as the villain, it’s hard to live with everything that was 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 that’s why I apologise to the fans and my team-mates,” he wrote in Portuguese.
Paqueta’s red card on Sunday had come after he had served a one-match suspension, prior to Sunday’s match, after accumulating five yellow cards in the league.
The Football Association had begun an investigation into Paqueta’s involvement in spot fixing, which ended in July and had gone on for nearly two years, when his name was cleared by an independent regulatory commission.
The commission found that the four charges labelled against Paqueta to be “not proven” after a hearing, and the Brazilian was only reprimanded and warned about his future conduct for his failure to comply with the investigations.
