National team manager transfers key role from Real Madrid winger to Barcelona star | OneFootball

After two inconsistent seasons at FC Barcelona, Raphinha has started the 2024-25 campaign in spectacular form. The Brazilian winger has already tallied 12 goals and 8 assists in just 17 appearances for the Blaugranes, showcasing significant improvement under the guidance of new coach Hansi Flick.

Currently, Raphinha is away on international duty, continuing his impressive form with the Brazilian national team. In their recent match against Venezuela, he stood out as the best performer, scoring a stunning free-kick in a game that ended 1-1.

The match could have swung in Brazil’s favor had Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior converted a late penalty. Notably, Vinicius insisted on taking the spot-kick, despite Raphinha’s success from the penalty spot in Brazil’s previous match against Peru, where the Barcelona star scored two penalties in Vinicius’ absence due to injury.

In such a context, Mundo Deportivo reports that Brazil’s head coach, Dorival Junior, has reassigned penalty-taking duties to Raphinha, taking them away from Vinicius Junior. The coach made his decision clear as he spoke to the press ahead of the game against Uruguay:

“Raphinha and Vini were ready for the penalties. Vini ended up missing his. Tomorrow, if there’s a penalty, Raphinha will be the taker. But here’s what I see: you only mature through experiences. You only grow by going through situations like these in life and in a career. It’s the athlete who must find their way individually. And collectively, we—the technical committees—are here to help them.”

This is another honor for Raphinha, who is just going from strength to strength this season. Hopefully, he will be able to justify this decision of his coach in the matches to come.