people also underrate how much he set the tone with pressing similar to what dembele did at psg last year that stuff rarely shows up in highlight comps but managers rave about it
back to the basic question why did he not win it the simple combo is no champions league trophy too much yamal push around barca and dembele having a treble on his cv
there is a world where barca close out that semi final win the competition and suddenly we are arguing about whether yamal or raphinha deserves it more instead of dembele vs raphinha
in that timeline yamal probably does sneak the award which is the funniest part raphinha could have carried them all year and still watched the teenager collect the trophy
seeing him end up with numbers that put him next to messi and ronaldo in history and then go home with nothing major has to sting for him and for barca fans
yet every coach quote we hear about him from xavi to cholo keeps reinforcing that he is valued inside the game even if the public votes do not fully reflect it
by then nobody will care about exact ranking just that he produced that many goals assists and sprints in one insane year and scared every full back in europe
from a betting angle guys like him are gold because he racks up goals assists and shots while also almost never getting rotated when fit pure dream for long term props
also low key funny how this entire debate has more heat than some title races people get properly emotional when their favourite creative winger gets disrespected by award voters
simeone dropping public love letters like this will only add fuel next time voting comes around narrative merchants are going to spam that quote everywhere
whatever happens with future trophies that chelsea cameo and the champions league run will live forever in barca memories that is already more than most players ever achieve
in the end he might not have a ballon d or but he has legendary status at two clubs leeds fans still adore him and barca fans finally realised what they almost lost
whatever side you are on you cannot deny one thing he pressed created scored and led like few others last year and that is why this quote hit everyone so hard
until then let the ballon d or takes flow it is good content between matches and raphinha is probably too busy running to even care about our arguments here
wah wah wah from some people every time barca fans mention pr but everyone forgets their own club does the exact same pushing when their star is in the race