Neymar rages over Barcelona winger’s final 2025 Ballon d’Or ranking – ‘Joke’ | OneFootball

The Ballon d’Or gala last night was a largely successful one for Barcelona.

Aitana Bonmati bagged the Women’s Ballon d’Or for a third year in a row, and Lamine Yamal won the Kopa Trophy for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, Vicky Lopez became the inaugural winner of the Women’s Kopa Trophy.

Lamine was also among the favourites to win the Golden Orb on the night, but lost out to Ousmane Dembele, who ran on the momentum of PSG’s domestic and European success.

Also nominated for the Catalans were Raphinha and Pedri, who finished fifth and eleventh, respectively, in the Ballon d’Or standings, numbers that do not do justice to the season they enjoyed.

Neymar lashes out

Taking to Instagram after the event, former Barcelona star and Brazilian international Neymar Jr. did not hold back and came out lashing at the sheer injustice faced by his compatriot Raphinha.

“Raphinha in fifth is too much of a joke,” he wrote, making it clear that he was unhappy with the outcome.

Courtesy: Instagram

Given the season the player enjoyed for Barcelona, both domestically and especially in the UEFA Champions League, his not finishing in the top three is indeed a shocker.

In 69 games for Barcelona last season, Raphinha racked up 38 goals and 26 assists with three trophies won for the club.

In comparison, Ousmane Dembele, who won the award, had 35 goals and 16 assists for PSG, while Lamine Yamal had 19 goals and 24 assists to his name for Barcelona in the 2024/25 campaign.

Quite clearly, Raphinha’s numbers in terms of goals and assists are far superior to both players who finished in the top two, and it is unbelievable that both Vitinha and Mohammed Salah finished ahead of him as well.

Nevertheless, the player will look to move on from the disappointing finish in the race for the Ballon d’Or and concentrate on the season ahead – one that he has already made a strong start to with three goals and two assists in five games.