Raphinha Lists His Top Five Ballon d'Or Candidates | OneFootball

Barcelona forward Raphinha ignored club rivalries when naming the Real Madrid duo of Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé as contenders to lift this year's Ballon d'Or.

The Brazilian's Barcelona teammates Lamine Yamal and Pedri were also name-checked alongside Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah, although Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembélé, arguably the standout candidate, was ignored.

Raphinha has done nothing to harm his own chances of winning an award which is dolled out to the best player on the planet each season by racking up a staggering haul of 32 goals and 22 assists across all competitions this term. The rejuvenated forward briefly thought he had fired Barcelona into the Champions League final with a record-equalling strike against Inter Milan only to be undone by the late heroics of Francesco Acerbi and Davide Frattesi.

Despite the club's dramatic European exit, Barcelona are still on track to win every available domestic title this season and—according to Raphinha at least—boast at least two other favorites for the Ballon d'Or.

"Ballon d'Or?" Raphinha repeated to himself when quizzed by reporters on his leading contenders for the award. "Lamine, Salah, Mbappé too. Pedri, for me, one of the best in the world. Vinícius, for me, is always a candidate, even if his numbers are slightly below last year."

Lamine Yamal (left) and Pedri were both crowned Euro 2024 champions with Spain last summer / IMAGO / Guillermo Martinez

Yamal's abundant quality was on display for all to see across both legs of Barcelona's semifinal against Inter, relentlessly weaving between the wall of blue and black stripes which inevitably tried to surround him. Yet, as Raphinha pointed out, the more subtle influence of Pedri should not be overlooked.

Former Real Madrid icon Toni Kroos recently lauded Barcelona's slight midfield maestro. "For me, a player like Pedri is more important than Lamine Yamal, Raphinha or [Robert] Lewandowski," the retired German mused on his podcast Einfach mal Luppen.

"They may decide the results of matches, but to do that, Pedri is currently the best player in the world in his position. He's a player you will miss when he's not playing, whoever you are playing against. He doesn't just score goals or provide assists, he offers solutions."

Vinícius was narrowly pipped to last year's Ballon d'Or and—much like his teammate Mbappé—is expected to miss out again after Real Madrid's underwhelming Champions League quarterfinal exit.

Liverpool's Salah has already been recognised by the English Football Writers' Association as the best Premier League player of the season, raking in a swollen 90 percent of the vote. While Arne Slot's side exited the Champions League at an even earlier stage of the competition—bowing out to PSG in the last 16—Salah's record-breaking heroics in England's top flight gives him a chance of becoming the first African footballer since George Weah in 1995 to win the Ballon d'Or.