Raphinha for the Ballon d’Or – Who says no?
The Brazil and Barcelona winger may or may not be there yet, depending on your perspective, but there’s no denying the numbers he’s racking up this season.
And being the best in the world sometimes boils down to the numbers.
Right now, Raphinha leads the rest of Europe’s best in both goals and assists in the Champions League. The former Leeds United player has scored 12 goals in 11 games. The closest challenger is teammate Robert Lewandowski, who has scored 11. Harry Kane has scored 10, and has played one game more. In terms of assists, Raphinha is also leading the pack with seven, two clear of second place.
Raphinha’s 19 goal contributions in the UCL so far this season matches the 19 produced by Messi in the 2011/12 season, the Argentine’s best ever in the competition. Messi played 11 games in that competition, the same number of games that Raphinha has now played.
With four more games to be played in the Champions League this season if Barcelona reach the final, it is possible for Raphinha to even go ahead and break the record for the most goal contributions ever in the modern era of the Champions League (since 1992/93). The record, held by Cristiano Ronaldo, currently stands at 22 goal contributions.
But that’s not all. In all competitions, Raphinha has now scored a combined 50 goals and assists in 2024/25. By comparison, Barcelona and Brazil legend Ronaldinho scored 49 in 2005/06, his most productive season.
There will be a wide range of opinions about Barca’s in-form forward and whether he should be mentioned in the same breath as the greats. But numbers don’t lie, and this season they are including him in the conversation.
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[…] question why he almost awarded Barcelona a penalty on the night – an obvious simulation by Raphinha, cancelled after a VAR review – or why he did not award one to Real Madrid in the stoppage […]