In an interview with journalist Isabela Pagliari, posted on Monday, Brazilian winger Raphinha revealed that he was close to accepting a call-up to play for Italy’s Euro 2020-winning squad before ultimately deciding to represent Brazil.

The Barcelona forward stated that, at the time, the Italian national team was actively pursuing him.

“I was close to accepting the Italian national team call!” he said. “I was supposed to go to the Euro they won in 2020. I was basically set to go. So luckily, since the passport didn’t come through.

At that point, the people from the Italian national team were calling me. Jorginho used to call me all the time. The Italian staff had this amazing project for me, something that really caught my eye,” he added.”

Raphinha shared that, despite the strong interest and the opportunity to take part in a major European tournament, he held on to a faint hope of representing his birth nation, Brazil.

“But at the same time, deep down, I still had that one per cent of hope that I could wear the Brazil shirt. And luckily, my Italian passport didn’t get ready in time,” he said.

Since then, Raphinha has gone on to represent Brazil at the international level, ultimately achieving the dream he came close to missing.

Raphinha is having the best season of his career in 2024-25. Only Liverpool's Mo Salah has more goal contributions than the Brazilian in Europes top 5 leagues. He is set to face Inter Milan in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night, with Barcelona looking to make their first final since winning Europes premier competition in 2015.