In Greek mythology, the gods condemned Sisyphus to endlessly push a rock to the top of a mountain, from where it would roll back down to the base under its own weight.

The story was used by French writer and philosopher Albert Camus as a device to reflect on the absurdity of human existence — our futile search for meaning in places where none can be found.

Enter: Raphinha. Bear with us here.

For a good while, Raphinha’s Barcelona career seemed destined to follow a similarly fruitless path. Despite the incredible effort he put in since arriving in a £55million ($74.2m at the current rate) transfer from Leeds United in 2022, recognition and reward seemed out of reach. Just a year ago, he was being pushed out of the Spanish club.

With the arrival of Hansi Flick to replace Xavi as manager for the 2024-25 season, however, things began to change for him.

The Brazil international forward was one of Barcelona’s best players last season as they won a domestic treble. Yet still, there is a sense he has not fully received the wider praise he deserves.

Raphinha was nominated for this year’s Ballon d’Or, which reflected that 2024-25 campaign, but finished fifth in the voting, behind Ousmane Dembele, Lamine Yamal, Vitinha and Mohamed Salah.

The 29-year-old was more recently among the 11 nominees for the men’s trophy in the FIFA Best Awards, yet did not make the same event’s all-star select XI for the calendar year 2025, published this month. His wife, Natalia Rodrigues Belloli, in comments shared on social media, wondered: “Do they think he’s a basketball player?”

Flick felt he had to act. In his pre-match press conference before last weekend’s trip to Villarreal, the Barca manager said he was “not happy” that “no one had asked him” about a situation he “wanted to highlight”.

This was what he wanted to say: “FIFA’s Best XI is a joke. It’s unbelievable that Raphinha isn’t in it. His influence on our team was incredible. He was the top scorer in the Champions League (on 13 goals, level with Serhou Guirassy of Borussia Dortmund). It’s unbelievable. And the most important thing is his influence. It’s a joke. I can’t believe he’s not in it. After this season, he deserved it. It’s unbelievable.”

So, as the year comes to a close, The Athletic decided that, if nobody else was going to celebrate Raphinha, we would sort it out ourselves.

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When Raphinha arrived at Barcelona in summer 2022, he did so quietly. Initially, his appearances were limited to filling in when Xavi’s first-choice right-winger Dembele was out injured.

When Dembele returned to action, the Frenchman regained his place for the remainder of the season as the Catalans won La Liga and Raphinha went back to his support role.

But in a surprise move, Dembele then decided to leave Barca, halfway through the club’s 2023 pre-season tour in the United States, to sign for Paris Saint-Germain for his €50million (£43.6m/$58.9m at the current rates) release clause.