Barcelona’s Five Best Players of 2025—Ranked

Barcelona’s 2025 success was due in large part to some of the best players in the world.

Lamine Yamal (left) and Raphinha were nothing short of brilliant for Barcelona in 2025. / Ruben De La Rosa/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Barcelona bid farewell to a sensational 2025, where a number of key contributors stole the show as the club emphatically returned to the summit of Spanish soccer.

The year started with a stellar triumph in the Spanish Super Cup and comes to close with Barcelona atop the La Liga standings in 2025–26, having conquered a maiden domestic treble in between it all.

Hansi Flick’s side didn’t just rediscover Barcelona’s greatness—they built one of the greatest teams in club folklore and finish the year as one of the best teams in the world. The biggest reason? Barcelona have otherworldly talent all over their squad. Some of the best players in the world took their game to new heights in 2025, helping create an absolute juggernaut of a team.

As the year comes to a close, let’s take a look back at the five best players who played a pivotal role in the Catalans’ ascent to incredible peaks in 2025.

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5. Frenkie de Jong

The best version of Frenkie de Jong took center stage in 2025. / IMAGO/Pressinphoto

Frenkie de Jong started 2025 playing second fiddle to Marc Casadó in midfield and with his Barcelona future at serious risk. Now, the Dutchman will end it having already inked a new contract extension after playing the best calendar year of his career in Catalonia.

The intense criticism of De Jong slowly but emphatically died down as the central midfielder formed a perfect partnership with Pedri in Barça’s engine room. Serving as the anchor that balanced Flick’s side for much of the year, De Jong was quietly great, and his influence was felt all over the pitch.

The vision, precise passing and incredible ball carrying ability that took European football by storm during his time at Ajax was on full display in 2025. But De Jong also emerged as a dressing room leader—a point of criticism in the past—and became a worthy club captain in the absence of Marc-André ter Stegen.

It was a year of vindication for the second-longest tenured Barcelona player on the team, where he undoubtedly delivered his best regularly.

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4. Ferran Torres

Ferran Torres improved drastically over the past year. / David Ramos/Getty Images

Laughs would’ve probably been the reaction to someone predicting Ferran Torres would be Barcelona’s leading goalscorer in 2025. But here we are 12 months later and the Spaniard’s 27 strikes make him the club’s joint-top goalscorer of the calendar year alongside Robert Lewandowski.

Torres started the year as a rotational piece Flick would often deploy on either wing. He ends it as Barcelona’s most utilized center forward and trailing only Kylian Mbappé in La Liga’s Golden Boot race.

Yes, Torres remains an imperfect player, but his game grew astronomically this year. He offered energy and link-up play Lewandowski seems to struggle with in the latter portion of his career, making Barcelona’s attack more fluid.

He scored crucial goals as well, none more important than an 84th minute equalizer in the Copa del Rey final vs. Real Madrid that ignited Barça’s title-winning comeback. Torres put together a simply remarkable year for one of the most underrated players in Spain.

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3. Raphinha

Raphinha became the beating heart of Hansi Flick’s Barcelona. / IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire

If this list was about the most decisive Barcelona players of the year, then Raphinha would earn the top spot. The exhilarating Brazilian was at the heart of everything that went right for Flick’s side in 2025.

Flick said it best: “Raphinha was the player [whose] influence on this team last season was the greatest.” Raphinha capped-off a coming of age 2024–25 season with a staggering 34 goals and 22 assists. In 2025 alone, the forward had 41 goal contributions in Blaugrana colors—tied for most on the team.

Playing on the left wing with the freedom to drift centrally, Raphinha recorded clutch goal after clutch assist, especially in the second half of the term, where he put the finishing touches on one of the greatest individual Champions League campaigns.

He will surely believe he deserves higher on this list and an argument could be made he’s correct. Still, there are two players that shined even brighter.

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2. Pedri

Pedri cemented his status as the best midfielder in the world. / Alex Caparros/Getty Images

As the undisputed mastermind and architect of Barcelona’s 2025 success, Pedri finally left behind injury-ridden years—for the most part—and left no question about who the current best midfielder in the world is.

Week in and week out, Pedri delivered mesmerizing performances that left those watching in complete awe. The Spaniard was a true midfield maestro that pulled the strings of a dominant side. Every time Pedri was on the pitch this year, the game was played on his terms.

The 23-year-old featured in all of Barcelona’s opening 47 games of 2025 and his absence was glaring when he missed time late in the year.

In a time where the football world is obsessed with statistical output, Pedri is one of the few that rebel against the status quo. His elegant influence goes beyond statistics and if he keeps up this level, he has the quality to be among the pantheon of great Spain and Barcelona midfielders when all is said and done.

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1. Lamine Yamal

Lamine Yamal continued his rise as one of the best players in the sport. / Eric Alonso/Getty Images

Ousmane Dembélé beat Lamine Yamal for every major individual award in 2025, but had Barcelona achieved Champions League glory, it’s very likely the outcome would’ve been different. At just 18 years old, Yamal is already, in the eyes of many, the best player in the world.

Yamal’s 2025 was nothing short of spectacular. He made a mockery of defenders seemingly every game, but the youngster also continued his superlative development into a decisive force of nature, collecting 21 goals and 20 assists to bring him level with Raphinha for most Barça goal involvements on the year.

The Spain international had breathtaking performances with absurd regularity, perhaps none better than the Champions League semifinals against Inter Milan. In a losing effort, Yamal was the best player on the pitch on the biggest stage, earning praise from rivals and delivering one of the greatest individual showings in a knockout game in the competition’s history.

Yamal inherited Barcelona’s storied No. 10 shirt upon his coming of age in the summer and he’s picked off right where he left off this season. Despite missing time to injury, the teenager already has 19 goal contributions this season.

In 2024, Yamal announced his arrival as one of the best young talents the sport had seen in some time. In 2025, he made it abundantly clear that he has all-time great potential.

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