Neymar’s sharp dig at Raphinha’s Ballon d’Or ranking | OneFootball

The 2025 Ballon d'Or was not without controversy. The choice of Ousmane Dembélé as the winner over Lamine Yamal sparked reactions around the world, and although many agreed with the decision, some football figures expressed their dissatisfaction with other places in the ranking.

Among them was Neymar, who shared the squad with the French winger at PSG, but only for a while before moving to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia in 2023. The Brazilian star questioned the final valuation of France Football, although without disputing Dembélé's first place.

It's worth remembering that on previous occasions Neymar himself had been ironic about the performance of the "Mosquito", laughing at statistical comparisons between them. On this occasion, the criticism was directed at Raphinha's place in the final award. The current Santos player responded to a post by an influencer from his country and did not hesitate: "That Raphinha is fifth is a joke," he wrote on his Instagram account.

His response, which quickly went viral, added to the support he had already shown last season towards Vinicius. Ney's annoyance is explained in the numbers: the Barcelona attacker scored more than 30 goals and was a key piece in the treble that included the League, Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España. With these records, the blaugrana environment expected greater recognition at the Paris gala.

The situation recalls what happened with Lamine Yamal, another figure of the Catalan team whose performance was also highlighted during the year, although he did not receive the expected award. In Barcelona, they believe that the contribution of their figures was not valued as it should have been.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.