Thierry Henry has supported Raphinha’s claim to win the Ballon d’Or from 2025, largely because of his goals in the Champions League.
The International Brazil yielded twice in Barca’s 3-1 second part of Benfica’s defeat last night to take his count in Europe Elite Club competition to 11.
The 4-1 aggregated victory of the Catalans means that they went to a quarterfinals against Borussia Dortmund or Lille.
And Henry believes Raphinha for the race of Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane has risen in the race for the largest individual price of the game.
“Raphinha is ahead, with the balloon d’Or.”
Thierry Henry believes that the Barcelona star is an early favorite to take home the prestigious prize 👇 pic.twitter.com/6t6v4meq0j
– CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@cbsportsgolazo) March 11, 2025
Henry Backs ‘Complete’ Raphinha
The former striker of France said on CBS: ‘He [Raphinha] Is above because of what he does in the Champions League. He has 11 goals in the Champions League.
“Mo Salah is a great competition for it, Harry Kane is a competition.
“Raphinha is many goals with just one penalty. I am not saying that Kane should not have a punishment [stats] And Mo Salah has a season in the Premier League that we will never see again.
“But I say that if a man has the same amount of goals than your boys have scored without fines, it is not bad, it is excellent.
“Defending what he does on top of, when people talk about complete, as a striker, you need to know how you can also put pressure on and press well and Raphinha has it all.”
Flick supports Henry’s view
Raphinha has also played a key role in Barcelona Topping La Liga, although they are equal to points with Real Madrid and only one for Atletico Madrid.
Blaugrana boss Hansi Flick spoke last week about the importance of Raphinha for his team.
The German said: “Raphinha for the balloon d’Or? He is a candidate, yes. Of course, if he is doing well this season, he could have a chance.
“He always helps us a lot, and when you see the goals he has scored, it will show you how hungry he is. You see it, it’s good to see how focused he is. I am happy with his level. “
The top scorers in the Champions League of this season:
- 11 Rappinha (Barcelona)
- 10 Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
- 9 Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
- 8 Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
- 7 Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid), Ousmane Dembele (Paris St-Germain), Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid), Gospelis Pavlidis (Benfica), Vinicius JR (Real Madrid)
