After three narrow 2-1 wins to begin the campaign, Barça then put on a show on Saturday when they thrashed Real Valladolid 7-0 at the Estadi Olímpic. It was the team’s largest margin of victory in over eight years, since an 8-0 victory over Deportivo de La Coruña in 2016.
So many players performed well, but the standout footballer was undoubtedly Raphinha, who scored three goals and provided an assist too to Ferran Torres.
“It’s the first hat-trick of my career and I’m happy to have helped my teammates,” he told the media afterwards. “I don’t know if it was my best performance, but one of the best, yes.”
Although coach Hansi Flick joked afterwards that Raphinha has so much quality that “he should have had a hat-trick in his career already”, this five-star performance continued the Brazilian’s incredible start to the new season. He now has three goals, two assists and one penalty won, making him the most impactful player in terms of direct goal contributions in the competition. Furthermore, no player in the division has created more big chances than his five.
The keys to Raphinha’s success: Hard work and tactical fit
It took Raphinha until December to have this many goal contributions last season, so 2024/25 has clearly gotten off to a great start for the 27-year-old. The forward explained after the Real Valladolid match that he has been working hard so that he can show his best level this campaign.
He stated: “I have been working hard since I came back from the summer break. I knew this season was a very important for me and I am striving to be at my best. The team is working well and this result speaks to what we are doing right now.”
Not only is Raphinha putting in the work, but he is also performing so well thanks to his tactical fit in Flick’s new-look Barça side. The Brazilian starts most attacks as the left winger, but has been given the freedom to move more central and to play close to Robert Lewandowski in the penalty area.
The German coach is delighted with what he is seeing from the Brazilian, but is demanding consistency. “This is what we want from him as his performance level today was very high and we’re looking for that,” Flick said of Raphinha after Saturday’s match.
Now, with the international break coming up, Raphinha will go off to play with Brazil while Flick and his coaching staff enjoy the first pause in what will surely be a long and gruelling LALIGA EA SPORTS title race. A difficult trip to Girona FC is next on the schedule for FC Barcelona, who lost both meetings with their Catalan neighbours last season, but they’ll travel to the Estadi Montilivi full of confidence, having just achieved their biggest victory in years and knowing that Raphinha is playing some of the most impactful football of his career.