Brazilian officials announced Tuesday that Barcelona winger Raphinha had been called up to the national team to replace injured Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior as Brazil began their World Cup qualification campaign.

The hamstring injury that forced Vinicius to leave early in Friday’s 1-0 La Liga victory over Celta Vigo is expected to keep him out for up to six weeks, keeping him out of Brazil’s qualifiers against Bolivia and Peru on September 8 and 12, respectively.

The 23-year-old star was hurt, according to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), and coach Fernando Diniz chose Raphinha to take his place.

26-year-old Raphinha previously represented the “Selecao” at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, where the five-time champions were defeated by Croatia in the quarterfinals.

He had a difficult start to the season with Barcelona after receiving a red card and being dismissed during their league debut against Getafe and missing the following two games.With Vinicius out, Neymar, 31, who began a lucrative contract with Al-Hilal this month and recently moved to Saudi Arabia, will be expected to spearhead the assault as Brazil begins their long-awaited run for a sixth World Cup victory.However, Neymar’s new club’s coach, Jorge Jesus of Portugal, reportedly questioned whether or not he was well enough to play for his country’s squad, claiming he had a slight ailment.