Article by Andra Mocanu – Published Tuesday, December 16, 2025 10:25 p.m. / Updated Tuesday, December 16, 2025 10:25 p.m.
FIFA revealed their best eleven of the year at The Best awards ceremony on Tuesday, and Raphinha's absence sparked a reaction from the Barcelona player's wife, Natalia Rodrigues.
“Raphinha is a basketball player?” can be read on the social networks of Natalia Rodrigues, the wife of the former Sporting player. His Barcelona team-mates Pedri and Lamine Yamal are in the squad but the Brazilian striker, who has scored 24 goals in 2025, has been left out.
Natalia Rodrigues, Raphinha's wife, reacted after the Brazilian was left out of the ideal starting XI of 2025
The football player's wife published several pictures on the Instagram social network, and later deleted them. The first message was: “Raphinha plays basketball?”. The tirade later continued: “She doesn't even try to hide it anymore.” He then posted a picture of the Brazilian's numbers this season: “And didn't he deserve to be in the best 11?”. The last post of Natalia Rodrigues was a post in which she wrote “Injustice”, the message being accompanied by a picture of Raphinha, according to tribuna.com.
What does the ideal “11” chosen by FIFA for the year 2025 look like: Donnarumma (PSG / Manchester City) – Hakimi (PSG), Pacho (PSG), van Dijk (Liverpool), Nuno Mendes (PSG) – Palmer (Chelsea), Bellingham (Real Madrid), Vitinha (PSG), Pedri (Barcelona) – Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Ousmane Dembele (PSG)
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Natalia is a model and has over 1.3 million followers on social media. She met Raphinha in the summer of 2021, and in December they got engaged.
Natalia Rodrigues also reacted after the Ballon d'Or ceremony
After the Ballon d'Or gala, Natalia Rodrigues was unhappy with the place occupied by her husband in the ranking at the ceremony. The Brazilian was ranked below the likes of Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Vitinha (PSG) and Lamine Yamal.
Shortly after the ceremony, Natalia Rodrigues posted a picture of herself and her husband: “The streets will never forget this season! 61 submissions! You're incredible!”, a tongue-in-cheek and riotous message.
