‘Obviously’… Hansi Flick backs €80m Barcelona star as a favorite for the Ballon d’Or | OneFootball

Throughout this season, Hansi Flick has enabled many Barcelona players to find their best versions. Thanks to this development, even the team as a whole has been performing well across various competitions. However, Barcelona have no plans of stopping right here.

With their title hopes for La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League still being alive, Barcelona aim to progress well across all three competitions. Fortunately for the Catalan giants, their best players have also managed to step up when they have been needed the most.

On the topic of stepping up, no player has come clutch for Barcelona more often in the Champions League than Raphinha this season. Even against the team’s upcoming opponents SL Benfica, the Brazilian forward has scored three goals against them across two occasions this season already.

Even ahead of the match, as highlighted by SPORT, Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick could not help but back his player when asked if he was among the top contenders for the prestigious Ballon d’Or award this year during his recent press conference ahead of the game against SL Benfica:

“Yes, obviously. He has played well this season, and that’s clear. For us, he’s always a player who helps with his good dynamics and the goals he scores. We’ve seen it clearly in the last few matches. He has all the qualities of a good player: when he attacks, you can see how well he does it. He’s a very focused player, and I’m very happy that he’s with us, especially at this level.”

This is huge praise coming from Flick, but it was very much deserved as well. For Barcelona, Raphinha has been a guarantee this season when it comes to stepping up on the big occasions. From the likes of Real Madrid to Bayern Munich, the €80 million-rated forward has produced magic across several big games.

While the actual potential winner of the Ballon d’Or will likely need to lead their team to victory when it comes to major silverware, Raphinha has already made a strong case for himself. In terms of statistics, he is among the very best in Europe across all competitions.

With 25 goals and 18 assists in 40 games this season, his total tally of 43 goal contributions is only behind that of Viktor Gyokeres (46) and Mohamed Salah (54). It is important to note, however, that both of those other names are also the primary penalty-takers for their respective clubs and that does help in producing better overall numbers.