Barcelona midfielder Rafinha has backed Lionel Messi to win the Ballon d’Or and feels that his compatriot Neymar will ultimately become the best player in the world. The 22-year-old damaged his anterior cruciate ligament during Barcelona’s Champions League tie with Roma back in September and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
Neymar has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or award along with the ever-present nominees in Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both of Rafinha’s teammates formed a stellar partnership along with Luis Suarez and helped the Blaugrana to a treble of UEFA Champions League, La Liga and the Copa del Rey titles. The ‘MSN’ trio scored a total of 122 goals in the 2014/15 season, with the Argentine bagging the most among them with 58 goals to his name.
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The younger of the Alcantara brothers admitted that he is a fan of his national football team’s captain Neymar. However, he made it perfectly clear that Messi is the best player in the game right now. The 28-year-old is widely believed to pip both Neymar and Ronaldo for the Ballon d’Or in January and Rafinha also chose Messi as his favoured candidate.
“I'm a fan of Neymar but I have to admit that Messi is from another planet. In the future, Neymar will be the best in the world, but right now it's Messi.”
Neymar has been in glittering form for the Catalan giants this season and is the top scorer in the La Liga with 14 goals, ahead of the likes of Luis Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo. On the other hand, Lionel Messi who was out for almost two months through injury has also scored five goals in the Spanish top flight and has made four assists as well.
Rafinha wishes to play in the Olympics
The Brazilian also expressed his desire to represent his country in the Rio Olympics next year. However, he is wary of the fact that he is still some way from achieving full fitness and stated that he needs to add some game time to his name with Barcelona if he hopes to make it in the Brazilian side for the Olympics.
“I was operated on three months ago and in January I'll be able to start running again and in March, I'll be ready to return to the team,” Rafinha said.
“I dream about playing in the Olympics but I need more minutes with Barcelona to be considered for the squad for Rio.”
