Fernandinho receives Brazil call-up

Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2014 by Foxsports.com

Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has been called up by Luiz Felipe Scolari for Brazil's friendly against South Africa on March 5.

The 28-year-old Fernandinho, a £30million signing for City last summer, has only five caps for his country but has been hoping to use his strong form in his debut Barclays Premier League season to force his way into the World Cup picture.

And despite missing City's last two games with an injury, he has taken a huge step towards that goal by earning a call-up.

Chelsea quartet David Luiz, Ramires, Oscar and Willian are all named, while QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar is also included despite finding himself second choice at the Sky Bet Championship side this season - his only appearance of the campaign coming in a 4-0 FA Cup defeat to Everton.

Scolari will complete the squad with Brazilian-based players to be named at a later date.

Squad: Julio Cesar (QPR); David Luiz (Chelsea), Dante (Bayern Munich), Thiago Silva (Paris St Germain) Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Rafinha (Bayern Munich); Luiz Gustavo (Wolfsburg), Paulinho (Tottenham), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Ramires (Chelsea); Oscar (Chelsea), Hulk (Zenit St Petersburg), Bernard (Shakhtar Donetsk), Willian (Chelsea), Neymar (Barcelona).