Barcelona’s flawless opening to the LaLiga season has carried Raphinha into company usually reserved for the club’s great scoring eras. The Brazilian struck three times against Sevilla to reach 12 league goals in seven matches, moving beyond Lionel Messi’s best total at the same stage of a campaign.
The 3-0 burst against the Andalusians was Raphinha’s second successive league hat-trick, following another three-goal display against Racing de Santander. It also left him one strike short of the seven-match LaLiga benchmark set by Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid in 2014-15.
A Barcelona record eclipsed
Messi had previously set Barcelona’s leading early-season standards, scoring 10 times after seven fixtures in 2011-12 and raising that number to 11 in 2017-18. Raphinha has now passed both marks with 12.
Only Ronaldo remains ahead in the broader LaLiga comparison. The Portuguese had 13 goals after seven rounds in 2014-15, a target Raphinha could have matched against Sevilla had the afternoon developed differently.
He completed his treble in the 69th minute, but Hansi Flick withdrew him seven minutes later. The substitution ended the chance for a fourth goal and an immediate draw with Ronaldo’s figure.
A new role close to goal
Raphinha’s scoring surge has coincided with a positional adjustment under Flick. Used in a false-nine role, he has been arriving more regularly in central areas and closer to the opposition penalty area.
His Sevilla hat-trick showed the variety now available to Barcelona: one goal came with his head, another with his right foot and the third with his left. Repeating the feat he achieved against Racing de Santander has underlined the scale of his current form.
Barcelona have won each of their first seven league matches, with Raphinha emerging as one of the defining attacking figures of the campaign’s opening weeks. Their next league stop offers him another piece of history: the chance to reach, or surpass, Ronaldo’s total of 13.
