Earlier today, it seemed Barcelona were set for a massive boost following Raphinha’s red card incident against Japan in a friendly.
The forward received a red card for protesting after Japan’s late winner, which means he was immediately ruled out for the next friendly against Singapore.
This led many outlets to report that Brazil is now considering releasing Raphinha and allowing him to return to Barcelona, since he won’t be available against Singapore anyway.
Brazil refuses to release Raphinha
However, in what would be a highly controversial move, it appears Brazil has no desire to release Raphinha early, in spite of his unavailability against Singapore.
This was confirmed by Rodrigo Caetano, chief executive officer of Brazilian football federation, who told the media that the team does not wish to release Raphinha.
“Raphinha stays. In principle, he stays with us. It does not make sense (to leave), because he is one of our leaders,” he said (h/t Diario SPORT).
This is a blatant violation of the unwritten and unsaid understanding that national teams and clubs have always had, since there are many precedents in the past where a player was allowed to leave early if he was deemed unavailable for the next match.
A grave concern for Barcelona
This is not the best of news for Barcelona, as Raphinha will now only run the risk of potentially picking up an injury while training with the national team in Singapore, but also potentially failing to be fully fit and available for the game against Villarreal.
It must be noted that Brazil are slated to take on Singapore on Tuesday. Raphinha will be allowed to return to the Barcelona camp only after the game.
The distance between Singapore and Barcelona is roughly 11,000 km, making it a long and tedious journey for Raphinha, who will then have to rest up and get back to full fitness by the time Barcelona take on Villarreal on Sunday.
While that doesn’t necessarily mean Raphinha won’t be available against Villarreal, it does make things significantly difficult for the Barcelona star, who would have preferred to return to Ciutat Esportiva immediately.
