Raphinha to Miss Barcelona's Next Two Fixtures as Flick Refuses to Gamble
Raphinha will sit out Barcelona's next two fixtures with the thigh injury he carried back from Brazil duty, with Hansi Flick refusing to gamble on a captain who suffered three injuries last season.
Published 11 Oct 20262 min read
Barcelona captain Raphinha will miss the club's next two fixtures after returning from international duty with a right thigh injury, Hansi Flick has confirmed. The forward, who withdrew from Brazil duty following his half-time substitution against Australia, was left out of the squad picture for the Getafe match and will now sit out the two games that follow as well.
Flick: not serious, but careful
The Barcelona head coach was at pains to frame the decision as management rather than emergency. "It's not a serious injury, but we have to be careful because he had three injuries last year, and we have to take care of him," Flick said. He also defended Raphinha's decision to want to play for Brazil: "It's the national team and everyone wants to play for their national team."
The caution is understandable. Raphinha has started all eight of Barcelona's matches across LaLiga and the Champions League this season, scoring 14 goals and playing much of the campaign as a false nine rather than his usual wide role. Medical tests found muscle edema in the thigh, and the club's staff see the warning signs of last season's repeat injuries in it — the reason the recovery is being stretched.
A demanding run without him
The schedule is why the rest is happening now. After the visit of Getafe, Barcelona travel to Galatasaray and Betis, then face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League before the Clasico — a run that demands a fit Raphinha for the matches that decide the season's first trophies. Barcelona's 3-0 win over Getafe, with Anthony Gordon scoring his first goal for the club inside two minutes, showed the attack can function without its captain; the next two fixtures will test how long that can last.
For a player who has become the central figure in Barcelona's aggressive, high-intensity approach — the captain, the presser, the scorer — two games on the sidelines is a planned pause, not a crisis. The target is simple: have him back and at full power for the run that ends at the Bernabéu.