 He and his identical twin, Fábio, were then spotted by a representative of Fluminense playing five-a-side in their neighbourhood; he invited them to join the club and they began living there when they were 11 years old.Upon joining Fluminense, Rafael was converted to play at full-back by the youth team coach.The club then took part in the 2005 Nike Premier Cup in Hong Kong, where Rafael was spotted by Manchester United scout Les Kershaw, who remarked that the twins reminded him of "two little whippets".