Brazil shock Barcelona with a strange decision regarding Raphinha
Brazil captain and Barcelona star Raphinha was sent off during his country's match against Japan, and will miss the friendly scheduled for next Tuesday against Singapore.
The newspaper Sport report that Raphinha will stay with the Samba camp in Singapore, sparking a fresh crisis between the Brazilian Federation and Barcelona.
Raphinha played 71 minutes before the match boiled over at the death. The Barcelona star and coach Carlo Ancelotti both saw red for protesting Japan's winner, which came after a clear foul on João Gomes.
Brazil are due to play a second match at the National Stadium in Singapore next Tuesday, and Raphinha cannot feature. He must serve a one-match ban.
Ancelotti is also barred from the bench, forcing the Italian to hand the reins to one of his backroom staff for the game.
Logic suggested Brazil would release Raphinha from the squad so he could bring forward his return to Barça, the rule the Brazilian Federation have long applied in friendlies and South American World Cup qualifiers.
Not this time. Rodrigo Caetano, the general executive coordinator of Brazil's men's national teams, confirmed as much in the mixed zone at the National Stadium in Singapore.
Caetano told reporters: "Raphinha will stay. For now, he will continue to remain with us... There is no sense in his departure, because he is one of our leaders."
On Ancelotti, the Brazilian official added: "We will settle it later, calmly, and study the identity of the person who will replace the coach in the best possible way, because we have a highly qualified technical staff, which includes many good names, and we will divide the tasks among them."
Raphinha, then, stays put in Brazil's Singapore camp until further notice. If it plays out as the Federation's top executive described, he cannot begin the journey back to Barcelona, a trip of around 11,000 kilometres and more than 12 hours in the air, until after Tuesday's game, which the Barcelona and Brazil captain will watch from the stands.
The delay hits his preparation and his readjustment to Barcelona's local time, with a seven-hour gap between the Catalan city and Singapore. It comes ahead of Barcelona's next LaLiga outing, at home to Villarreal at the Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday 22 November.
A week later, Hansi Flick's side make their longest trip of the UEFA Champions League first phase, facing Sabah FC at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on Wednesday 25 November.
That journey covers around 4,000 kilometres and takes more than five hours by air.
