CBF and Barcelona reach limit agreement to protect Raphinha

The Brazilian Football Confederation and Barcelona have reached an agreement to manage the Brazilian's playing time and avoid the risk of a possible relapse or new injury. This agreement comes to prevent what happened during the September and October break, when the forward returned to the Catalan city with a muscle edema in the right‑leg hamstrings.

Raphinha's call‑up by Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti was not welcomed at Barça because the player had not recovered fully from his last injury suffered during the previous FIFA break. Ancelotti called him up and Raphinha travelled to Singapore to play two friendlies against Japan on Saturday at 11:15 Spain time, and against Singapore on November 17 at 11:00.

According to Globo, Barça and the CBF are coordinated to manage his playing time so that Raphinha returns in full shape and the risk of a third consecutive injury is minimized while he represents his country. That injury affected his performance in the early matches wearing Barcelona's shirt, as was evident during the Clasico against Real Madrid, despite him scoring a goal in that game.

Ancelotti also rested Arsenal players Bruno Guimarães and Gabriel Magalhães, and Vanderson. None of the three, nor Raphinha, is at risk of missing the first friendly against Japan.