Rodri defends Raphinha and calls his absence from Ballon d'Or shortlist incomprehensible

Rodri does not understand why Raphinha is absent from the list of thirty contenders for the 2026 Ballon d’Or. The Spanish midfielder, named best player of the last World Cup, expressed his surprise in an interview with Partizado de Cope, a month before the trophy ceremony.

“He’s the player who surprised me the most by far,” Rodri said about his FC Barcelona teammate. “I told him: ‘wait, weren’t you playing at Leeds on the wing cutting inside and scoring the occasional goal? And now you’re playing as number 9, it’s beyond me. I don’t understand how he’s not in the top 30 for the Ballon d’Or.’”

On the race itself, the Spaniard adopted a resolutely collective stance, refusing to single out a favourite among the six Spanish representatives in contention — Cucurella, Cubarsí, himself, Fabián Ruiz, Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres. “What I would really like is for a Spaniard to win it,” he said, before detailing each player’s merits: “Fabián Ruiz is the one who won the most titles. Cubarsí, for what he achieved at just 19 years old. Ferran scored the decisive goal. On my part, I was named best player of the tournament. And Lamine… incredible.”

As the campaign between contenders intensifies — Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé among the most cited names — Rodri chose not to fuel the controversy. “I think it’s wonderful that they consider themselves the best in the world,” he simply commented, without singling out any particular competitor.