Raphinha, once upon a time in the west – C1 – J5 – Barça-Brest

There shouldn't be many of them at FC Barcelona capable of putting Brest on the map, when they host the Finistériens at Montjuïc, in the Champions League, this Tuesday evening. In the Catalan locker room, we may have to turn to Parisian-born Jules Koundé or, why not, Raphinha. The strong man and current captain of Barça (13 goals, 10 assists in 18 games this season) has already set foot in the privateer city, and even at the Francis-Le Blé stadium. It was September 14, 2019 for his big debut in the jersey (blue, once is not customary) of Stade Rennais (0-0). The Brazilian even scored a goal, ultimately refused after a huge misunderstanding punctuated by the VAR, Clément Turpin and Brestois threatening to leave the field in the event of a validated pawn. At the time, it was difficult to imagine seeing this guy score a hat-trick against Bayern Munich in the premier competition or establish himself as a leader among the Blaugrana. “I think no one realized how lucky Stade Rennes was to have this player”introduces its former president Olivier Létang. The Breton adventure of “Raphi” lasted only thirteen months, a third of which was spent in confinement. A sort of shooting star which didn't really have time to twinkle, but which left some memories and whose departure remained a mystery for a long time.

Surprise transfer and good friend

When he set down his bags in the Breton capital in September 2019, Raphinha (not to be confused with Rafinha) arrived with two labels: that of a 22-year promise and above all that of the biggest transfer in the club's history, with an amount roughly similar to that spent on his compatriot Severino Lucas around fifteen years earlier (21 million euros). “When President Létang tells me that there is an opportunity to bring him in, frankly, I tell him that it is impossibleremembers Romain Salin, then just returned to his training club after spending a season in the same team as the Brazilian striker in Portugal. Between Sporting and Rennes, there is no photo. For me, this is a step backwards. » The Rouge et Noir have a few arguments to put forward in the negotiations: a fresh Coupe de France in the window, European thrills against Real Betis and Arsenal and a thunderous start to the season (9 points out of 9).

Opposite, Sporting needs to sell and it is a priori between Bruno Fernandes, whose price is set at 70 plates, Marcos Acuña and therefore Raphinha, a season and around forty matches in his bag. « The first time I went to see him in Lisbon, I asked him: “What is Rennes for you?” While knowing the answer, and it was normal that he didn't knowreplaces Létang. We had to convince him that it was the right project. Once he was on board, we discussed a lot with the president of Sporting to make the transfer a success. » Born in Porto Alegre and passed through Guimarães, where the winters are chilly, Raphinha does not fear the change in temperature, begins to learn French, stays in a hotel for 3-4 months (Salin: “It was a really annoying situation for him, so he came to eat at home”) and ends up finding a barracks in Pacé, in the inner suburbs of Rennes, where he will spend confinement despite his desire to return to Brazil. “I remember telling him: “If you leave and we have to resume the championship, you will be blocked and we are dead,” recalls Salin, who has since retired. You only tell him once in Raphi, he understands very quickly. Honestly, it's easier to manage Raphinha than my R1 players in Bréquigny. »

The guard quickly established himself as a central character in Raphinha's adventure on the banks of the Vilaine. If the club quickly assigned Joaquim Preto, a former assistant to László Bölöni, to play translator, the neo-Rennais relies mainly on Salin. “During the talks, he tended to listen to his friend”laughs Matthieu Le Scornet, then assistant to Julien Stéphan. “He was lucky to have Romain, who was bilingual in Portuguese.s, confirms Clément Grenier, now a consultant on Canal+. His adaptation was simplified and, what's more, he spoke French very quickly. » The boy is not the type to hide or stay in his corner, he is « tactile » and has « It's easy to accept »assures Le Scornet.

Food with the group? No problem, he's in the game. Salin: “If everyone is drinking beer, he’ll drink a beer and look at the guys with a big smile. He's a locker room guy who breathes football and human adventure. » If the two men were not particularly close at Sporting, Salin says he won a “true friend” in Rennes. The kind who didn't forget it a few years later when the goalkeeper came to spend a vacation in Barcelona, ​​with tickets for the matches against Shakhtar and Real Madrid, or even a lunch organized at his home on the eve of the Classic. “He had a volleyball table in his gym. We played it all the time in Rennes, so we played againspecifies Salin. I was sweating, he was playing Real the next day…”

The seesaw derby

And what about football? Raphinha's time in Rennes counts 8 goals and 6 assists in 36 appearances, an honest assessment, which also does not suggest that the loustic will have the heyday of Barça four years later. “When he arrives, I tell myself that they will have to understand that he is a big engine, that he needs to train a lotcontinued Translation. At Sporting, Bruno Fernandes, Jérémy Mathieu and he loved staying at the end of training. The problem in Rennes was that they wanted to control everything and they stopped it all the time. » The Scornet talks about an impressive player in the « efforts “, THE “counter-efforts » and the “high intensity »with a desire to always work harder on his finishing. “He knew he wasn't performing well, he was putting in extra work to get there, illustrates the current coach of the Strasbourg reserve, who confirms that he often had to be stopped. We also made him work in the middle, he played a few matches as a second striker, he moved well, he was technically good under pressure. There, I sometimes see him turning around Lewandowski, it makes me smile. »

Compliments are legion among his former Rennes partners, Clément Grenier speaking of a « extraordinary left paw » and a « right foot quite efficient »of « its ability to adapt » a you « treat » to be able to find yourself with your eyes closed on a field with him. He still had to wait until his eleventh match to shake the net, on a penalty offered by M'Baye Niang during a success against Amiens. “M'Baye has bonuses in his contract for goals and assists, but he knew that Raphinha had not yet scored and he gave him the ball »smiles Létang. Proof of an integrated man, who becomes a little more so one frosty January evening, by scoring a double tap-in in a crazy derby against Nantes in which Rennais was trailing 2-1 in the 94th^e minute, one evening when he had « happened something in the city » for Salin. “This is the match that turns everything upside downbelieves Le Scornet. He understood this rivalry, so he touched us and the supporters and he gained confidence. »

“Professional misconduct »

His departure at the very end of the transfer window a few months later, after a truncated season and at the time of seeing Stade Rennes discover the stars of the Champions League, a competition that he dreams of playing in, is difficult to understand. Especially since the attacker then represented by Deco, who never hesitated to highlight his client in the international media, did not want to leave Brittany. “He thought that for his development and maturity, he had to stay in Rennesconfirms Grenier. He was quite sad, it happened very quickly for him. » Romain Salin goes behind the scenes: “He calls me to tell me we need to see each other. I arrive, he looks like an idiot, a closed face, he says to me: “Do you know?” And there he tells me that the club has accepted a transfer of 17 million (coming from Leeds United, Editor’s note). At the time, he is offended, he says that he is not respected. It's an emotional thing, it was over, it was broken. » The Brazilian plays one last match at Roazhon Park against Reims, signs a goal and an assist, and does not hide the fact that he is sulking.

A photo then shows the Brazilian surrounded by Salin, Damien Da Silva and Julien Stéphan, fueling the theory of a player decided to leave and who was trying to retain and presented as a set-up by certain observers. “No one in the group wants to see him go. Even his competitor Romain Del Castillo wanted him to stay, they got along really well. I also tell him that he can stay if he wants, that he doesn't have to accept »summarizes Salin. At the same time, Florian Maurice finalizes the arrival of Jérémy Doku, and several sources speak of Julien Stéphan's desire to separate from Raphinha. « Stéphan said to him: “If you want, you can stay”, but it's not very convincing. They all blamed each other afterwards. » The former Rennes technician still denies these allegations today. In any case, for Salin, « iThey did not realize its impact on the group ».

Salin always speaks of a “professional misconduct » to sell it at a lower price (17-18 million euros) than its purchase a year earlier. Olivier Létang, fired a few months earlier and remained in contact with the attacker with whom he had even kicked the ball during confinement, said nothing else: “We must respect the choices made by the clubs, but making him leave against his will was very surprising, even incomprehensible to me who knows him very well. » Thus ended Raphinha's perhaps unfinished story with Stade Rennes, where other favorites and good players allowed the Breton club to advance to European qualifications. For Grenier, it was perhaps not the destination he “hoped” after Rennes. “When he left for Leeds and the Premier Leaguecontinues Le Scornet, I remember saying to him: “En route versus the Selection.”» He was able to taste it a year later, in October 2021, and is now one of the regulars in the Brazilian selection (31 caps, 10 goals). His career could have looked like something else, he is happily embracing it at the moment, establishing himself as one of the faces of Hansi Flick's attractive Barça. All he has to do now is score a valid goal against Brest this time.

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