What do I have to do to finish a match? That must think Raphinhawho left very angry after being replaced before the Manchester United at minute 82 for Ferran Torres. Although he later apologized and acknowledged his bad manners, the Brazilian has certain arguments to get angry.
Despite assisting in the first goal of Mark Alonso and sign the equalizer, the Brazilian once again left the field of play before the final whistle. Raphinha, which already adds 31 parties with the Barça, He has only managed to play 90 minutes on one occasion.
Since the injury of Dembele’s and the csystem change to four midfielders, Raphinha is signing better numbers. In this short stretch he has scored 3 goals (Betis and Sevilla in the League and Manchester United in the Europa League) and has provided 2 assists (Sevilla in the League and Manchester United in the Europa League). In total, the one from Porto Alegre has 7 goals and 9 assists in 31 games counting all competitionsBeing the Barça’s top assistant.
However, not even with these can he play an entire match. In fact, he hasn’t since September 3, 2022in the victory against Sevilla at Sánchez Pizjuán (0-3). Against Manchester United he was being the most decisive player of Barçabut Xavi chose him again as one of the five changes.
When he saw his number, 22, on the electronic board, his emotional state changed completely. It was minute 82 and Ferran Torres He was going to enter the field of play. From the adrenaline that scoring a goal arouses in front of more than 90,000 people, he went to the frustration of not being able to play a full match for months. In total, they are already more than 3 months without finishing a game in which he has started.
He apologized and Xavi downplayed it
He walked away shaking his head, annoyed. And on the bench he exploded. Jordi Alba, acting as captain, tried to calm him down, but he couldn’t. After the game he apologized. “I take this opportunity to apologize to everyoneto Ferran and the coach, to the team, to the fans… I made a mistake, it won’t happen again“, something that Xavi appreciated and also understood.
After all, the man from Egar knows something about high-voltage matches: “I understand Raphinha’s anger. He has apologized to me, but he doesn’t have to. I always ask my players for ambition and he has been. It also bothered me that they replaced me”.
The next Sunday, before the Cadiz at 9:00 p.m. at the Camp Nou, the ex from Leeds will have a new opportunity to achieve his ‘mission impossible’ this season: play a whole game.
