OneFootball
Seamus Leonard·14 November 2022
OneFootball
Seamus Leonard·14 November 2022
Flamengo’s Gabriel Barbosa has taken a very public swipe at Brazil manager Tite for leaving the striker out of the World Cup squad heading to Qatar.
The Rubro-Negro star and Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino were two high-profile omissions by the Selecão boss.
Addressing the crowd at an end-of-season party in central Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, Gabigol taunted the Brazil supremo by saying: “I’m already playing for a national team.”
Barbosa was clearly in a spiky mood, and he also had some derogatory comments to make about the quality of local opposition in the Campeonato Carioca.
“While some celebrate the rise of Serie B, others celebrate the Libertadores tri. I would like now, morally, there is no more rival, who is Flamengo’s rival? There is none!”
Having won the Copa Libertadores, the Mengão will represent South America in the Fifa Club World Cup in February.
They lost to Liverpool in the final in 2019, but Barbosa had some fighting words for the current Champions League holders.
“Real Madrid, it can wait, your time will come!”
Unfortunately the occasion ended on a sour note when violence erupted between sections of the revellers and police.