'Injustice!' - Raphinha's wife unleashes fury over Barcelona star's omission from The Best FIFA XI

Raphinha was handed a fresh snub this week as The Best FIFA XI was announced. Barcelona team-mates Pedri and Lamine Yamal were in the XI, while PSG star Ousmane Dembele, Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer also made the cut. However, there was no room for Raphinha despite enjoying a campaign where he scored 18 goals and bagged 10 assists in 36 league games and was named La Liga's Player of the Season. Raphinha was included on the initial 26-man shortlist for the XI but failed to receive enough votes from his peers to make the final team. This is not the first time that Raphinha has been overlooked. He was also left out of the FifPro World XI and responded in defiant fashion with a series of posts on social media that showed off his goals, assists and trophies from last season.

Raphinha's wife, Natalia Rodrigues, made it clear just how furious she was at seeing her husband snubbed again. Rodrigues described the final vote as an "injustice" and jokingly asked "Is Raphinha playing basketball?" in posts on Instagram. The Barcelona star's wife also wrote "they don’t even try to hide it anymore" and "but he didn’t deserve to be among the XI?” in a series of messages that have since been deleted.

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Raphinha's form last season also saw him tipped to win the Ballon d'Or. However, that award went to Dembele, who enjoyed an historic season with PSG and claimed Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Champions League trophies. Yet Raphinha has since claimed he feels he deserves more recognition. He told reporters after Barcelona's recent Champions League clash with Chelsea: “I deserved much more, but these are individual awards, and collectively we missed the Champions League — that’s what we want. These aren’t things I control. People, journalists… I only control what happens on the pitch.” When asked why he didn't finish higher in the Ballon d'Or rankings, he replied: "You’re the ones who should explain that. I did everything I could. I’ll keep trying to be better, that’s it.” Raphinha finished in fifth place in the final standings behind Dembele, Lamine Yamal, Vitinha, and Mohamed Salah.

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has a similar view and has admitted he was baffled that Raphinha wasn't top of the pile at the Ballon d'Or awards, telling reporters: "Raphinha is an incredible player. He can play everywhere. As a winger, as a midfielder, as a striker, or even as a wing back. He can score, can create, he presses and runs. I don’t know how he didn’t win the Ballon d’Or. For me, I would choose him always."

Raphinha's 2025-26 season has been disrupted by injury so far but he is now back to fitness and will be expected to play a major role for Barcelona once again. The 28-year-old has six goals and three assists in just 10 La Liga appearances in the current campaign, highlighting just how vital he is for the Catalan giants. There has been speculation that Raphinha could be tempted away from Barcelona by a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia, but he has rubbished such talk. He said on social media: "I don't know where they get so much nonsense, really. Well, this one, where fake news always comes out, very nice." Flick's side currently sit four points clear at the top of La Liga ahead of a final fixture of 2025 on Sunday against Villarreal.