Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images
In less than two weeks, the first international break of the 2024/25 season will arrive and a plethora of FC Barcelona stars will fly away to represent their respective national teams.
However, one player who will be remaining in Catalonia during that period is Brazil winger Raphinha.
Shock omission from Brazil squad
Indeed, the 27-year-old Barcelona winger will not be travelling for international duty next month as Brazil manager Dorival Junior has surprisingly left him out of the squad for their upcoming matches.
The Selecao are scheduled to face Ecuador and Paraguay in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers on September 6 and 10 and the squad for the same was announced today.
In a surprise bit of decision, Dorival has opted to leave out Raphinha even though the winger was part of the Copa America squad during the summer and performed decently at the tournament, even scoring a goal.
Underappreciated player
Raphinha’s exclusion from the Brazil squad by the national team manager shows the lack of appreciation towards the Barcelona star.
The 27-year-old always performs admirably and gives his everything on the field, be it for club or country, but tends to constantly get overlooked.
This summer, Raphinha was constantly linked with a departure from Barcelona despite him being one of the team’s better players in the last season.
Now, the winger has been omitted from the national team squad in favour of unproven players like Estevao Willian and Real Madrid’s Endrick.
The news comes on the same day as Raphinha being voted in as one of the five Barcelona captains for the 2024/25 season. Being included in the Brazil squad would have been the cherry on top for the player for today.
But as he has done in the past, Raphinha will do the talking on the pitch and push himself to earn a spot back in the Brazil squad
