Raphinha was left out of Barcelona’s starting lineup for Sunday’s La Liga match against Valencia.
Raphinha is one of coach Hansi Flick’s most frequently used players, and his absence against the Catalans immediately raised questions.
Some initially interpreted this as Flick’s decision to rest Raphinha due to his long trip from South America, but RAC1 confirmed this was incorrect.
According to the latest report, Raphinha was late for the training session, a red flag for Flick, and he immediately decided to discipline him and remove him from the starting lineup for the Valencia match.
This isn’t the first time Flick has made similar decisions. Last season, he punished Jules Kounde by dropping him from the starting lineup three times for the same reason, and he also ended Iñaki Peña’s career as a Blaugrana goalkeeper against Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup.
Flick replaced Raphinha against Valencia with Marcus Rashford, and also gave Ronny Bardghji his first start in place of the injured Lamine Yamal, with Ferran Torres continuing as the outright striker.
