Leeds United fans will have been watching on with hope of Raphinha heading to a Champions League final on Tuesday night, only for his Barcelona side to be beaten by Inter Milan in added time.
Leeds’ season has come to a close in perfect fashion with a Championship title at the weekend, followed by hundreds of thousands gathering in the City Centre to celebrate a historic season.
As the Whites are now set for the financial benefits of Premier League football, there was hope last night that the club would go one step closer to another windfall.
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Raphinha’s Barcelona knocked out of the Champions League – Leeds United miss out on add-on clause
Leeds fans have been watching Raphinha’s explosion of goalscoring form for Barcelona with glee for two reasons this season – firstly because it’s great to see a true favourite of the fans going onto bigger and better things after producing heroic performances at Elland Road.
The second is that if his Barcelona side were to win the Champions League, an add-on clause would be triggered in his contract – with Marca reporting back in 2022 at the time of his £55million exit that as many as £10million could be coming Leeds’ way.
Former Leeds United winger Raphinha celebrated what he thought would be the winner for Barcelona, only for Inter Milan to stage a dramatic comeback. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
After a gripping 3-3 semi-final first-leg encounter between Barcelona and Inter Milan, the stage was set for an equally entertaining encounter at the San Siro.
Funnily enough, the same scoreline took the game to extra-time when Raphinha thought he’d won it in the 88th minute, only for veteran centre-back Francesco Acerbi to turn in a brilliant finish in added time.
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Inter then went on to win the tie in extra-time through Davide Frattesi, scored in the 99th minute, booking their place in the final at the Allianz Arena, dumping Barcelona out and meaning Leeds’ wait for Raphinha add-ons goes on.
Within 23 minutes between Raphinha’s goal and Frattesi’s winner, Leeds have gone from being 90 minutes away from this clause being triggered, to it vanishing for another season.
Leeds United suffer Raphinha blow as wait goes on for add-ons up to £10million
Seeing Raphinha succeed comes with great pride for what he achieved at Elland Road, but from a financial perspective, it would have been amazing for him to get into the final.
Whether he can go again next season when other sides get stronger in the summer remains to be seen.
The Ballon D’Or is still possibly in view for the Brazilian in the second half of 2025, but as far as we’re aware, there’s no evidence to suggest there’s clause for Leeds if Raphinha is crowned the best in the world.