Thierry Henry reveals why Raphinha is the top favorite to win the Ballon d'Or this season

Published:12/03/2025 - 13:28h

Updated:12/03/2025 - 13:39h

Thierry Henry outlined the reasons why he considers Raphinha the favorite to win the Ballon d'Or 2025

More and more personalities from the world of football are joining the campaign linking Raphinha as a serious candidate to be in the running for the Ballon d'Or 2025. And how could they not? The native of Porto Alegre is proving day after day that he is experiencing a sublime sporting moment: scoring goals, assisting his teammates, creating plays, contributing defensively, in short, showing himself as a total footballer.

If we add to this that collectively things are going well for an FC Barcelona that has already won the Supercopa de España, leads LaLiga EA Sports, is qualified for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, and in the 'semis' of the Copa del Rey, it gives a lot to think about.

Henry sees Raphinha as the favorite to win the Ballon d'Or

First it was Hansi Flick who acknowledged without a doubt that the '11' was already a serious candidate for the Ballon d'Or 2025. Now, this campaign has been joined by the historic French player, with a past at FC Barcelona, Thierry Henry, who in an intervention on 'CBS Sports', when asked about who he thought were the main favorites to win the prestigious award given by France Football magazine, did not hesitate to place Raphinha at the top.

"He is up there. Raphinha is ahead for me right now. He has scored 11 goals in the Champions League. 'Mo' Salah is a great candidate, Kane is a candidate, Dembélé depends... If you perform well in the Champions and also win your league, obviously you will have a chance. But Raphinha is in his prime, with many goals and only one penalty. I'm not saying that Kane or Salah, who is having a season in the Premier League that we won't see again, don't take penalties, but if a player scores the same goals as the rest without penalties... I'm not saying what they have done is wrong, it's incredible, but we need to talk a little more about him," began 'Titi'.

The reasons behind 'Titi's' favoritism for the Brazilian winger

Subsequently, Henry explained other reasons that solidify Raphinha's candidacy for the Ballon d'Or, positioning him as a complete forward who contributes in all facets of the game. "What Raphinha is doing, in addition to defending under pressure... Because when talking about a complete forward, you also have to know how to press, defend, help the full-back, and press well. There are many things to do and Raphinha does them all," concluded the former French player.

'Rapha' has strong arguments to be fully in the Ballon d'Or conversation

These statements come to light just after Raphinha had an outstanding match against SL Benfica in the second leg of the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, where he scored two goals and provided an assist in the 3-1 victory of the culés against the Lisbon team. These goals have taken him to the top of the competition's scoring table with a total of 11 goals, also becoming the Brazilian who has scored the most goals in a season with Barcelona in the Champions League, also seriously approaching the record of Leo Messi as the culé player with the most goals scored in a European Cup edition, after the 14 achieved in the 2011-12 season.

At the same time, overall, Raphinha is having a dream season with FC Barcelona, with 27 goals (2nd top scorer of Barcelona) and 19 assists (best assister of Barça) in 41 matches. These are his best individual numbers in a season, which he continues to improve, and if he manages to complement them with several titles at the collective level, he could have fully cemented the path to becoming the seventh player from the culé team to win a Ballon d'Or.

PLAYERS WHO WON A BALLON D'OR AS FC BARCELONA PLAYERS ⚽🏆:

Luis Suárez (1960)
Johan Cruyff (1973 and 1974)
Hristo Stoichkov (1994)
Rivaldo (1999)
Ronaldinho (2005)
Leo Messi (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019)

Additionally, he would be the fifth Brazilian player to lift the Ballon d'Or, an award that has not gone to a player from the 'Seleção' since Kaká won it in 2007: