Opinion: Raphinha’s 2024-25 season was one for the ages – it deserved better | OneFootball

You reap what you sow.

Raphinha diligently and dutifully followed through with the mantra throughout last season.

But let’s be real with each other, he sowed 61 rows and reaped not even a single sample to show for it. Goals, assists, decisive moments, the output of an elite forward across every competition.

Life hasn’t been fair to Raphinha since he started his football journey in the infamous ‘favela’ culture of Brazil. He wasn’t always the first pick, or even the last, which only added to the insult.

But he has come a long way. He put in the work, made his way to Barcelona, and then delivered a near-perfect season for the ages.

While that context is enough for the most rudimentary of football fans to root for his cause, it is rather disheartening to see how the Ballon d’Or voting jury conveniently looked past not only the context but his unbelievable 2024-25 season, adjudging the Brazilian to be only the fifth-best player in the world in their collective opinion.

History repeated itself earlier this month when the 28-year-old Barça captain was once again overlooked in the FIFA The Best awards, while being left out of The Best Men’s World XI as well.

That’s not to say against, or take anything from, Ousmane Dembele’s deserved moment of honour. That is the least of the injustices propagated against Barcelona’s nominees on the big night.

But just like Pedri – and there is plenty to unpack there – Raphinha deserved more. And there are plenty of reasons for it.

The Logic

Raphinha should be given his flowers not only for the hero’s journey narrative around his ascension, but also because he outright put up the best numbers in the business since the genius of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo themselves.

And any ballads of his brilliance wouldn’t be legible without mentioning his rampage on the European stage.

Raphinha delivered clutch displays one after the other for Barcelona. (Photo by Pedro Salado/Getty Images)

As it reads, the world’s fifth-best player had the most goal contributions in a UEFA Champions League campaign, tied with Cristiano Ronaldo himself, 13 goals and eight assists.

None other than Messi had been this dominant up front in a single UCL campaign, ending as the leader in both the goalscoring and assist charts, and no Brazilian had ever scored more than 10 goals in a single season of the competition.

Simply put, for the season in question, there was no one better on the biggest of stages than Raphinha. He plundered goals for fun, was a serious creative force, and an uncompromising leader.

To even weigh up his immediate competition, Mohamed Salah, who finished fourth, Raphinha not only registered a better output in Europe, but also exceeded the Egyptian’s total contribution to Liverpool’s successful domestic campaign, whilst taking only two penalties.

This is in no way an attempt to draw attention to the bitter taste left with Barça fans, but if there are players adjudged to be better, it would be far more acceptable if it were factually and instinctively the case.

It doesn’t make it better that he was also anti-climactically left out of FIFA’s The Best XI, meaning he wasn’t even close in the considerations for the crowning individual award, The Best, either.

Even Barcelona manager Hansi Flick could not hide his disbelief. Speaking openly about the omission, he said:

“There’s something I wanted to comment on. FIFA’s Best XI is a joke. It’s unbelievable that Raphinha isn’t in it. 

“His influence was incredible. He was the top scorer in the Champions League. It’s unbelievable. And the most important thing is his influence. It’s a joke. I can’t believe he’s not in it. After this season, he deserved it. It’s unbelievable,”

If the Ballon d’Or and The Best were about revealing the player with the best individual performance and most impressive character, there were a few angles to consider to reach that answer.

But in a rather disdainful vein, they didn’t care to trouble themselves with the intricacies. Consistency across the season, dominance in the Champions League, leadership without theatrics, none of it carried the weight it should have.

Home Support

Raphinha deserved greater recognition for his 2024-25 season. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Looking into the huddled opinion of Barcelona fans, Lamine Yamal was the best player in the world, and there is not much to argue there. Even Pedri isn’t too far from being a recipient of those shouts.

However, as crucial and integral as they were to Barcelona’s success last year, their genius would have suffered without an end product, if not for Raphinha.

It is a mutual understanding that fans must withdraw to see it for themselves, and compromise on their pre-conceived notions. Why?

Because Raphinha won’t necessarily be a live wire for the entirety of the game, but when you need him, and we often do, he is there, at the right place, at the right time, to guide the team home.

Late goals, timely assists and interventions when matches hung in the balance became a familiar pattern.

On the evidence of the start the club has had to this season, and how things unravelled during his injury-enforced absence, Raphinha’s value to the team cannot be understated any further.

From a rather honest outlook, as much as the world outside Catalonia batted an eye towards the Brazilian, the loyalists, when it mattered, didn’t quite show their full support either.

So while we expect Raphinha to keep this up, it is probably a call to heed, to actually reward brilliance when we see it.

Raphinha’s season was one of football’s finest, and history will be far kinder to it than the awards ever were.