Thiago Silva waxes lyrical of Raphinha's quality for Brazil

Chelsea centre-back Thiago Silva has been impressed with Leeds United attacker Raphinha's performances on international duty for Brazil.

The 24-year-old earned his first Brazil cap last week in an impressive comeback win over Venezuela.

He came off the bench at half-time with his team down 2-0, and completely revolutionised the contest for his side, assisting two in a dramatic 3-2 win.

Speaking about his influence on the side, Silva, 37, told UOL "The boys [Antony and Raphinha] showed a quality that in these more than ten years with the Brazilian national team I have hardly seen this level of performance.

"It's really cool to see Raphinha and Antony showing personality.

"In terms of rapport, it's a little lacking, but the individual (quality) is at a high level. That's what the man [Tite] wants, what the man asks for."

Thrilling the Seleccao

Raphinha's finally got the international break he deserved and since minute one he showed Tite what he's been missing.

We were surprised that, after such a good season for Leeds, why he wasn't being picked in the eleven by the Brazil head coach.

Now that he's shown what he can do, we expect him to be in the side right until the World Cup.

We've seen one player perform to the highest level on the international stage in Kalvin Phillips and now are seeing the same with Raphinha.

The 24-year-old came off the bench for his second game as well, against Colombia last night, but Brazil only managed a 0-0 draw.

They play again in the early hours of Friday morning (UK time), and hopefully, the Leeds attacker finally gets his first international start.

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