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Raphinha was once again the scourge of Benfica as the Brazil star inspired Hansi Flick to victory against the Portuguese side in the Round of 16.
The 28-year-old brought his tally against them to four goals this season, after scoring once each in the league phase and the first leg, before a double against Bruno Lage’s visitors in Catalonia.
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Two first-half goals from Raphinha – plus a wonder strike from Lamine Yamal – saw Barcelona cruise on and add more numbers to his impressive season tally.
He is now onto 27 goals and 17 assists split across all competitions in 2024/25 in by far the best campaign of his career. That form has forced the former Leeds United attacker into the Ballon d’Or conversation for 2025 and Thierry Henry believes he deserves to be the current favourite.
As part of his post-game analysis for CBS Sports, Henry highlighted Raphinha’s incredible exploits, and how his lack of penalties is giving him an edge over Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane.
“Raphinha is ahead, yes, [in the Ballon d’Or race]. Because of what he is doing in the Champions League, he’s on 11 goals,” he said.
“Mo Salah is a great contender for it, Harry Kane is a contender and [Ousmane] Dembele too, it depends.
“Raphinha is on a lot of goals with only one penalty scored. I’m not saying Kane shouldn’t have penalties. Salah is having a season in the Premier League that we will never see again, but if a guy has virtually the same amount of goals as you, but without penalties, I’m not going to say it’s bad what you did, it’s outstanding.
“But this guy [Raphinha], I have to talk a bit more about him.
“What Raphinha is doing on top of his defending and pressing. When people talk about being complete, as a striker you need to …
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