Exclusive: Newcastle star Joelinton 'good enough' to earn Brazil cap - says Roberto Carlos

Football Galactico Roberto Carlos has backed Joelinton to earn a call-up to Brazil after his impressive campaign at Newcastle United last year.

The Real Madrid and Inter Milan legend took note of Joelinton's performances in the Premier League and expects him to continue to flourish next term. The World Cup winner has 125 caps to his name and has offered some words of encouragement to Newcastle's player of the season.

Carlos, who appears for The Rest of the World X1 vs England X1 at West Ham tonight, told Chronicle Live: "Joelinton just has to keep up the good performances. He’s been putting them in and now he must make sure that he does what the coach says and make sure the fans are also happy with him.

"I’m sure that if he keeps up the good performances, his time in the national team will come."

Carlos is looking forward to pulling his boots on tonight at the London Stadium and in doing so will help raise funds for Unicef. The former Ballon d'Or silver medal winner said: "Playing in England is always great, it’s a stadium that already has held historical moments and it’s great to be on the pitch, seeing the fans and who knows, maybe even scoring a goal."

The legendary left-back will team up with his former international team-mate and the man who lifted the World Cup in 2002 for Brazil in Cafu tonight, and both agreed in unison that tonight's game is very much for the cause, not the applause.

He said: "I heard Cafu say something that is true, we are here to help people and at the same time help underprivileged kids all around the world. Socceraid and Unicef come together and put on this great event every year to help others more and more."