Barcelona star confirms he did not want to play in Club World Cup | OneFootball

Barcelona star Raphinha has late this week admitted that he had no interest in partaking in this summer’s Club World Cup.

The newly-formatted CWC is of course currently being played out in the USA.

With representation at the tournament based on a points system in European competition over recent years, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid were the two Spanish clubs handed spots by FIFA.

Barcelona, in turn, missed out, a blow to those behind the scenes at the Camp Nou, in the knowledge of the lucrative prizes up for grabs stateside this summer.

As alluded to above, though, whilst Joan Laporta and his board may be cursing their luck, one individual who is certainly not is Raphinha.

Speaking during an appearance in front of the media in his native Brazil this weekend, the former Leeds United star was drawn on Barca’s Club World Cup absence.

And Raphinha was honest as ever in his response, explaining:

“It would be a shame to give up my holiday to play something you’re forced to play. At no point were the players asked about the dates if they wanted to play.”

Conor Laird – GSFN