The Leeds and Zenit attackers have been rewarded for their efforts after catching the eye of Tite
Attacking duo Raphinha and Claudinho have been handed their first senior call-ups to the Brazil national team ahead of the Selecao’s Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers in September.
The Leeds playmaker and Zenit forward have both earned their maiden place amid Tite’s squad, with the latter rewarded for a successful gold-medal campaign at Tokyo 2020.
Now, they will be in the frame to make their debut for their country’s qualifiers as they face a Copa America rematch with Argentina, sandwiched between games against Chile and Peru.
What has been said?
“We’ve been following Raphinha for some time now, since he moved to the Premier League,” Tite told a press conference upon confirmation of his squad.
“We look for information in every way, and he has an accentuated dribbling technique. He has scored a number of important goals too, a decisive player.”
Brazil squad in full
Alisson (Liverpool), Ederson (Manchester City), Weverton (Palmeiras); Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Thiago Silva (Chelsea), Eder Militao (Real Madrid), Lucas Veríssimo (Benfica), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Danilo (Juventus), Daniel Alves (Sao Paulo), Guilherme Arana (Atletico Mineiro); Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fred (Manchester United), Lucas Paqueta (Lyon), Claudinho (Zenit), Bruno Guimaraes (Lyon), Everton Ribeiro (Flamengo), Fabinho (Liverpool); Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Richarlison (Everton), Matheus Cunha (Hertha Berlin), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Gabriel Barbosa (Flamengo), Raphinha (Leeds United).
The bigger picture
Call-ups for both Claudinho – a star of the Selecao’s Tokyo 2020, gold-medal-winning campaign in Japan during the off-season – and Raphinha will likely only increase the standing of both players over the coming months.
The former has transitioned to Europe to further his career, while the latter was already linked with a move away from Leeds amid fine form last term, though he looks set to remain at Elland Road for now.
They may well feature against Chile on September 2, the first of Brazil’s three games during the international break, with Argentina set to follow three days later on September 5 before the visit of Peru on September 9 wraps things up.
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