Scaloni responds to Raphinha's defiant words before Argentina-Brazil

A new South American Clásico takes place tonight. As part of Matchday 14 out of 18 of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in CONMEBOL, Argentina will take on Brazil on Tuesday, March 25 (at 00:00 of Wednesday, March 26 in UK time, 1:00 CET). An Argentina-Brazil is always exciting, and particularly for Brazil, as a defeat could mean losing ground in the qualifying process (they are third with 21 points, they need to finish among the top six, but don't have many points to spare (the sixth, Colombia, has 19 points).

Raphinha, star for Brazil who scored a goal in their match against Colombia last week, and is having a tremendous season with Barcelona this year, heated up the tension before the match, and in an interview on Romario's YouTube channel, Raphinha said that "We're going to thrash them, no doubt. We'll thrash them on the field and off the field if necessary".

His words caused some controversy, due to how he was heating up tension before the match, although it should be noted that his words happened in a more relaxed interview with a Brazilian legend, who induced the response as he literally asked him if they were going to thrash them, even adding "thank God, without Messi".

Clearly, Lionel Scaloni, Argentinian coach, read the room, as when he was asked in official press conference before the match, he downplayed Raphinha's words, reminding everyone the "an Argentina-Brazil match is an important match, but it's still a football match. It shouldn't go any further than that".

Scaloni remembered an image of Messi with Neymar after the 2021 Copa América final at the steps of the Maracanã, showing "the best in the world, and probably the second-best together then, being friends". "We both want to win and we'll be lions on the inside, but friends on the outside. We all have a Brazilian friend; I know a lot of them; it shouldn't go any further than that."