Brazil lost their first official match with Carlo Ancelottti on the bench on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in Spain) as a visitor against Bolivia (1-0). Although he was a substitute, Raphinha played half an hour by decision of 'Carletto', who consummated the shameful double standard on the September FIFA date after leaving Vinicius, Rodrygo and Éder Militao out of the call-up.
The FC Barcelona '11', on the other hand, played 79 minutes on Thursday against Chile (3-0) and had to enter in the complement of the match played in El Alto, at 4,150 meters of altitude, to try to avoid the historic defeat of the 'canarinha'.
Brazil had only lost three World Cup qualifying matches as a visitor in Bolivia, the last of them in 2009. Thanks to the result, the 'altiplano' team kept the spot for the play-off that CONMEBOL grants to the seventh classified of the qualifying round.
Raphinha, very upset by the defeat and the match in Bolivia
At the end of the match, played also with barely 6 degrees of temperature, Raphinha expressed his discomfort with the conditions in which the match had to be played. A formality duel for a Brazil qualified since June for the World Cup.
"From the moment a team makes you play at 4,000 meters of altitude to win the match, I think that hurts the other teams quite a bit", Rafa began by saying after the match.
"And then, in a balanced match like the one we were playing, the referee invented a penalty. I think that complicates our game even more on the field", pointed out the Barça winger.
Bolivia made the difference with a very dubious penalty in the discount of the first half, sanctioned by the intervention of the VAR. Miguel Terceros made the charge effective in the 45+4' and, in the complement, the locals sustained the advantage without too much effort.
The match was very locked from beginning to end, with more clear opportunities for the locals. In the second half, the interruptions and the lack of clarity of the 'verdeamarela' to attack tilted the balance in favor of the Bolivians.
Barça will recover Raphinha on Thursday: will he be a starter against Valencia?
In the 29 minutes he was on the field, Raphinha completed 9 of 11 passes (82 %), a couple of dribbles and opportunities created, in addition to winning 3 individual duels and making a shot on goal. In total, he accumulated 108 minutes of action in the double day of qualifiers, without adding goals or assists.
Now, the 28-year-old striker will cross the Atlantic back to Catalunya. In principle, Rafa will be available to train from this Thursday with the rest of the squad, although it is likely that, like Ronald Araujo, he will only work on Friday with the group due to the wear and tear of the trip.
In that sense, Hansi Flick could leave the '11' on the bench against Valencia on Sunday (21:00 hours), thinking of reserving him for the debut in Champions against Newcastle next Thursday. After the FIFA date in March, Raphinha had problems recovering his best version in the final stretch of 24/25.
Therefore, the coaching staff could be inclined to give him some rest, especially when the wear and tear in the September break was greater due to the hard trip to Bolivia. In the first three matchdays of LaLiga 25/26, the winger accumulates 229 minutes of action, with one goal and one assist.