Barcelona coach Hansi Flick expressed his fury after Rafael Rafinha was overlooked in the recently announced FIFA Best XI. Despite Rafinha’s instrumental role in Barcelona’s domestic treble, the Brazilian forward did not feature in any of the best eleven of the year. “It’s not a big deal about the award because I don’t care, but the FIFA Best XI is practically a joke,” Flick said, reacting to Rafael’s omission.
Flick stressed Rafael’s contributions, adding,
“𝑹𝒂𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒉𝒂 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 22 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒈𝒖𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒚. 𝑺𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒆.”
Rafinha’s Stellar Season Overlooked
Like the Ballon d’Or, Rafinha was ignored at FIFA’s The Best ceremony, while PSG’s Ousmane Dembele won the award. Only two forwards, Dembele and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, made the FIFA Best XI, alongside goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, defenders, and midfielders. Despite scoring 34 goals and providing 26 assists for Barcelona, he missed out.
Barcelona’s domestic treble success includes La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup. Rafinha, 29, had missed nine matches this season due to injury but has returned strongly, scoring three goals in four games since late November. The defending La Liga champions are set to face Villarreal tonight, with Flick confident about Rafinha’s impact on the team moving forward.
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