Melo knocks out Raphinha after his rant against the World Cup: 'When he plays it...'

The Club World Cup that Gianni Infantino, FIFA's president, has reformatted is delivering results. This is an indisputable fact. With matches broadcast completely free of charge for viewers all over the world, the tournament is attracting the attention of numerous fans and, in addition, the matches are helping a lot due to such diverse factors as excitement and surprise.

But Raphinha, the footballer from a Barcelona that, because of its failures in Europe in recent years, didn't pass FIFA's "exams" to play in the World Cup, complained loudly about a competition that, paradoxically, neither he nor his team are playing. "It's really bad to have to give up your vacation to play something you're obligated to," said the Barça player.

However, former player Felipe Melo doesn't share that opinion. The veteran Brazilian footballer, who retired a few months ago at Fluminense, hasn't hesitated to criticize his compatriot and emphasized that it's always a privilege to play in a World Cup, whether with clubs or national teams. This is a clear message for Raphinha, who also had the audacity to put himself in the players' shoes and say that FIFA didn't consult them about anything. He, who wasn't even going to play in the competition?

"I knew it was going to be a bomb. Well, the truth is that, in the midst of all this, we have to respect Raphinha's opinion, right? Yes, everyone has their own opinion, unfortunately, especially in Brazil, we ask people to speak out and, when they don't say what we think, we end up criticizing them, right? I think differently from him. For me, it's always a pleasure to be able to play in a World Cup, right?" Melo said about it.

Pure and simple hypocrisy

Melo still had time to dismantle Raphinha's great hypocrisy, whose way of acting and how he would behave if tomorrow he had the chance to play in the World Cup with Barça or, failing that, in the next World Cup with "Canarinha," is well known by everyone at this point.

"I'm sure he won't say the same thing when they play next year, if he's drafted for the World Cup with the national team. That's how it is: I saw some interviews with Bayer's president, I saw Zico's own interview, and Bayer's president said yes," Melo stated.

"Lately, agents are asking for a lot of money, athletes are earning much higher salaries than we were used to, and automatically they need income, they need matches, right? That's how it is. I respect his opinion, but I think exactly the opposite," concluded the former Inter Milan and Galatasaray player.