Rafinha hopes to help Ancelotti and Brazil achieve their desired results.

Brazil will travel to the Metropolitan Life Stadium to face Morocco in their first Group C match of the 2026 World Cup. Barcelona star Rafinha, in an interview, stated that he hopes to repay coach Ancelotti and the national team with a strong performance.

In the 2025/26 La Liga season, Rafinha contributed 13 goals and 3 assists for Barcelona, helping Flick's team achieve their goal of defending their title.

It is worth mentioning that Rafinha has faced Real Madrid, formerly coached by Ancelotti, on the field many times and achieved excellent results.

"Coach Ancelotti's achievements in football are admirable, not only for those who have worked with him, but also for his opponents. Playing against his teams is always very difficult, but fortunately, many times I am the one who ends up smiling," said 29-year-old Brazilian winger Rafinha.

“Now, I hope to use the abilities I have against his teams in the past to help him. I hope to help him and his team achieve good results because they deserve all of this.”

Rafinha continued, "I think I was under more pressure at the 2022 World Cup because I wasn't mature enough then. I had only recently joined the national team and also just joined Barcelona. I wasn't fully integrated into Brazil's system, but now I feel much better prepared."

"Brazil is the only team in the world to have won the World Cup five times. If you can't handle the pressure, then you shouldn't participate in such a tournament."

Rafinha added, "We are full of confidence. We have experienced a lot of disappointment over the years because we have had a squad that could win the title, but we have never been able to achieve our goal. And now, none of us want to experience that disappointment again."

In addition, Morocco coach Ouahbi said, "This match will help us test our true level, but I think we are ready to start our World Cup journey. We must believe in ourselves and we must believe in our past achievements."

“We are not afraid of Brazil, but we will give them enough respect. Of course, we will not make any special changes because of this. Many people say that Brazil today is not the same team as in the past, but they are still Brazil.”

Image source: Internet