Rafael has been named on a 30 man short list for the Samba De Ouro award handed out to the best Brazilian footballer playing in European football.
The list is littered with some of European football’s biggest names including Neymar, Thiago Silva, Kaka and Marcelo but Rafael absolutely deserves to have his name on that list.
At 23, Rafael has well and truly established himself as Manchester United’s first choice right-back and one of the best in the Premier League after a breakthrough season at Old Trafford.
The next big step for Rafael is breaking into Brazil’s national team and after the World Cup this year, he may be blooded into the squad as Maicon and Dani Alves are coming towards the end of their careers.
Unfortunately, his twin Fabio didn’t make the cut and surprisingly, neither did Anderson. Here is the list in full:
Dante – Bavaria – Germany
Luiz Gustavo – Wolfsburg – Germany
Roberto Firmino – Hoffenheim – Germany
David Luiz – Chelsea – England
Fernandinho – Manchester City – England
Lucas Leiva – Liverpool – England
Oscar – Chelsea – England
Philippe Coutinho – Liverpool – England
Rafael – Manchester United – England
Ramires – Chelsea – England
Adriano – Barcelona – Spain
Daniel Alves – Barcelona – Spain
Filipe Luis – Atlético Madrid – Spain
Marcelo – Real Madrid – Spain
Miranda – Atletico Madrid – Spain
Alex – PSG – France
Brandão – Saint-Etienne – France
Lucas – PSG – France
Marquinhos – PSG – France
Maxwell – PSG – France
Thiago Silva – PSG – France
Hernanes – Lazio – Italy
Maicon – Rome – Italy
Fernando – Porto – Portugal
Lima – Benfica – Portugal
Hulk – Zenit – Russia
Felipe Melo – Galatasaray – Turkey
Alex Teixeira – Shakhtar – Ukraine
Douglas Costa – Shakhtar – Ukraine
Luiz Adriano – Shakhtar – Ukraine