Richarlison reveals his groin injury was so bad he stopped shooting to avoid pain… as Tottenham forward opens up on 'very bad path' he went down with his mental health before his return to form following surgery

Richarlison has revealed he was struggling on with an injury that became so bad he had to stop shooting during pre-match - and spoke of the toll it took on his mental health.

Tottenham's Brazil international forward, who scored twice in a 4-1 win against Newcastle on Sunday on his first start since surgery to resolve the groin problem, said his poor form led to criticism and a crisis of confidence.

'I'm very happy to be back playing,' said Richarlison, 26. 'I recovered very quickly and this has been an extra motivation for me. Since last year, I had been suffering from these pains and felt a lot especially when it was time to finish.

'So much so that I didn't even practice kicking in the warm-up before the games, because it always got worse and I couldn't do the simplest movements afterwards without feeling discomfort.

'Out of my desire to help both the club and the national team, I ended up postponing this surgery for many months, until I realized that I was actually harming myself and the teams, as I was not in a good physical condition to continue.'

After discussions with Ange Postecoglou and others at Tottenham, the decision was taken to have an operation despite the glut of other injuries and suspensions at the club.

'I am 'hungry', I always want to play, but I learned this lesson the hard way,' Richarlison told Mail Sport. 'If your health and mental health are not up to date, there is no point.

'A lot of people criticised me, said bad things about me, because I really wasn't performing at my best, and since my head wasn't feeling good anymore due to the lack of confidence and off-field matters, which wasn't great either, everything went down a very bad path.

'So much so that I took a break from social media and I've been saying very little, because I want to recover and I am focused on that.

'Thank God, I am feeling much better and without that pain. Very happy for the goals I scored, but also for being able to help the team more effectively.

'I had the energy to recover, I stole the ball from the first goal in midfield and arrived in one piece to finish later, things that hadn't been happening and that makes me very confident. Now we have to think about evolving with each game, having a good sequence and things will return to their place.'