Barcelona star to drop to bench on international duty | OneFootball

A member of the attacking ranks at La Liga giants Barcelona will not be forced into a starting role in his country’s next outing.

That’s according to Diario AS, who point towards Raphinha as the player in question.

The name of wide-man Raphinha emerged as a prominent one in the media headlines surrounding Barcelona over the last week.

As much came after the former Leeds United man was first the only La Liga player called up by Brazil boss Carlo Ancelotti, before also featuring from the off in the Seleção’s 3-0 victory over Chile.

With the five-time World Cup winners already qualified for next summer’s showpiece, Raphinha’s prominent role was in turn called into question by those of a Blaugrana persuasion.

As alluded to above, though, if the latest word doing the rounds on Monday is anything to go by, then Barca and Hansi Flick can rest easy.

This comes amid the assurance that, despite previous reports to the contrary, the club’s attacking star is set to be rested against Bolivia in the early hours of Wednesday.

As per AS:

‘Up to eight changes are expected for the match in Bolivia, one of them highly anticipated: Raphinha.’

Conor Laird – GSFN