It's that time of year where leagues around Europe begin to wind down for their winter breaks. Some countries allow their top-flight teams an extended period off around Christmas, while others will only be missing from the schedules for a week or so. All the while, the Premier League will continue throughout the festive period as the title race continues to hot up.

A raging Hansi Flick labelled FIFA's The Best XI a "joke" after Raphinha was left out of the team. The Barcelona forward's exclusion cut particularly deep, given the scale of his output after helping Barcelona win three trophies last term. He had been shortlisted among the final 26-man list, yet failed to secure a place in the ultimate team at FIFA’s annual awards.

Barcelona star Raphinha's wife has been left furious after seeing her husband overlooked once again. The forward is a notable omission from The Best FIFA XI that has just been announced and was also previously excluded from the FifPro World XI. The decision to overlook the Brazilian once again comes as a real surprise after he played a key role for Barcelona last season as Hansi Flick's side won La Liga, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup titles.

Despite a stellar season with Barcelona, Brazil star Raphinha was not included in the FIFA Men's World XI team announced in Doha. He was on the 11-player shortlist for the main award after an impressive season that saw him score 18 goals and provide 10 assists in La Liga, but didn’t make it into the team for one of the most prestigious awards of the season.

Things are really heating up in the run-up to Christmas across Europe's top leagues, with Inter reclaiming top spot in Serie A, Lens surprisingly leading the way in Ligue 1 and Barcelona continuing to pile pressure on Xabi Alonso's Real Madrid. Over in Germany, though, it seems that nobody is really capable of dethroning Bayern Munich, but Premier League leaders Arsenal are looking more and more nervous with each passing week.