The Raphinha Barcelona signed as a left winger in 2022 is now, on the evidence of the season’s opening month, the most in-form centre-forward in Spain. The captain scored twice in Monday night’s 5-2 win over Rayo Vallecano at the Spotify Camp Nou, took his La Liga tally to five in three matchdays and moved clear at the top of the scoring charts — all while filling a position that was never supposed to be his.
Barcelona have made it three wins from three, and per Mundo Deportivo the 29-year-old has already outscored Kylian Mbappé this season. The Blaugrana are top, they are scoring for fun, and the man leading the line is the one wearing the armband.
The Raphinha Barcelona needed at No.9
With Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres both gone this summer and Gabriel Jesus only signed in the final days of the window, Hansi Flick has spent August improvising through the middle. Raphinha has taken the job and made it look deliberate.
His equaliser on 19 minutes, seven minutes after Sergio Camello had stunned the Camp Nou following a Jules Koundé error, was the best goal of the night. Xavi Espart — the one defender Flick has not rotated all season — slid an undetectable pass into him on the edge of the box. Raphinha received it with his back to goal, spun his marker with a single touch, then bought Cárdenas with a feint before rolling a low finish across the goalkeeper.
Lamine Yamal made it 2-1 two minutes later, and the game was gone. Raphinha’s second, on 71 minutes for 4-2, came from an Anthony Gordon backheel and asked far less of him — but it put him alone at the summit of La Liga’s scoring list.
A streak nobody at Barcelona has managed since Messi
The brace also meant Raphinha has scored in each of the first three matchdays of a La Liga season. Only 14 players in the club’s history have done it, and the last was Lionel Messi in 2020/21 — the Argentine’s final campaign in Blaugrana.
Fermín López had the same target on Monday and did not start the game, so the record belongs to Raphinha alone. It is a run that puts him in company with Samuel Eto’o, Zlatan Ibrahimović and César Rodríguez, and it comes after a season in which the Brazilian’s form was widely questioned.
Flick, the dressing room and the opposition agree
Asked afterwards whether he expected this level from his captain, Flick pointed to temperament rather than technique. “He’s our captain; he has a positive attitude. We know how good he is. I’m delighted he’s performing at this level after last season,” the German said, per Barca Universal.
Marc Bernal, who set up Yamal’s opener on a night that made his own case for minutes, was more direct about what Raphinha means inside the squad. “Raphinha is a role model because he helps us all a lot. Especially the younger ones. He’s approachable, and that’s what we want, a captain like that,” he told DAZN, as reported by Barca Blaugranes.
Even the beaten manager joined in. Beñat San José, whose Rayo side defended him about as well as anyone has managed, called it plainly: “When he’s well, wherever he plays, he is world class. He’s very hard to stop.”
What happens when Gabriel Jesus is fit
Gabriel Jesus watched Monday’s game from the directors’ box, his move from Arsenal complete, and Flick has already called him “a top striker” who “can bring a lot to the team”. A recognised No.9 changes the geometry of this attack — and probably pushes Raphinha back towards the left, where Barcelona have spent three years watching him cut inside.
That would suit the team. It would also mean losing the version of Raphinha currently leading the Pichichi race. Flick’s happier problem is that Karim Adeyemi and Rodri are not yet starting, Anthony Gordon has already won the Camp Nou over, and Lamine Yamal has just become the youngest player in history to reach 50 goals for the club.
For now, the captain keeps the shirt and the scoring charts. Feyenoord and the Champions League are next on the horizon, and Barcelona look considerably less short of a centre-forward than anyone thought in June.
