Barcelona star endures nightmare as pre-match comments backfire in Brazil vs Argentina clash | OneFootball

The last few matches of this international break are now being played and several FC Barcelona players were in action in the last few hours with their respective national teams.

One such player was the Blaugrana captain Raphinha, who represented his Brazil side in the match against their heated rivals, Argentina.

While meetings between these two sides are always heated, this match was tense in particular because of some comments that the Blaugrana star had made some days ago in an interview with Romario.

Ultimately, SPORT notes that it was a nightmare of a night for the Brazilian forward, as he saw his team lose 4-1 at the Monumental, their worst defeat in a World Cup qualifying match.

Raphinha himself remained the target of aggression from several Argentinian players. Even before the half-time whistle, there were two fights, as the Barcelona winger engaged with Leandro Paredes and Rodrigo de Paul.

Then, right after the half-time whistle, there was another conflict as goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez got to the centre of the pitch and purposefully collided with the Brazilian captain. Raphinha had to be separated from the goalkeeper by his teammates at that instance.

This first half ended with a scoreline of 3-1 in the Abliceleste side’s favour, but instead of reacting, Brazil’s performance dropped even further in the second half.

The closest that the Barcelona star came to making an impact on this game was with a free-kick, but Martinez saved the shot on target from this set-piece.

Thus, the March international break ended in the worst possible fashion for Raphinha. He played a total of 180 minutes in this break and scored one goal, from the penalty spot, in the last match against Colombia.

He also saw a yellow card in one of his multiple clashes with the Argentine side, so he will be unavailable to Dorival Junior for the next World Cup qualifier against Ecuador in June. However, he will be able to play the next match against Paraguay.