Real Madrid's Vinicius left out of Brazil squad for U-20 tournament

With Madrid refusing to release Vinicius, the winger has been omitted from the Canarinha group for the South American U-20 Championship in Chile.

Real Madrid youngster Vinicius will, as expected, play no part in the upcoming South American U-20 Championship, after being left out of the Brazil squad named by Canarinha coach Carlos Amadeu on Thursday.

Real Madrid refuse to release Vinicius for U-20 event

Amadeu had revealed in November that Madrid were refusing to release the 18-year-old for the tournament, which is to be held in Chile from 17 January to 10 February 2019.

While Vinicius is the Brazilians' most high-profile absentee, he is not the only Europe-based starlet that Amadeu will be without: winger Paulinho (Bayer Leverkusen), midfielder Mauro Junior (PSV) and forward Matheus Cunha (RB Leipzig) will also be missing in Chile.

Madrid player-to-be Rodrygo among key names in squad

However, Santos forward Rodrygo Goes, who is due to join Los Blancos in summer 2019, is in the 23-man squad, which also features exciting prospects such as Cercle Brugge's Vitinho and Flamengo's Lincoln.

Colombia up first for Brazil U-20s

The players will meet up on 17 December at the Brazilian Football Confederation's (CBF) training base in Teresopolis, located around 100 kilometres outside of Rio de Janeiro, to begin their preparations for a campaign that gets underway against Colombia on 19 January.

They then also face Venezuela, hosts Chile, and Bolivia in the opening group phase. If they finish in the top three, they will then progress to a six-team final stage also played in a round-robin format.