Raphinha's Hat Trick Powers Barcelona to Sixth Straight Win
Raphinha is turning Barcelona’s start to the season into his own personal highlight reel.
The Brazilian forward struck a ruthless hat trick on Wednesday as Barcelona demolished Racing Santander 7-2, maintaining a perfect record of six wins from six in La Liga and underlining the sheer firepower of Hansi Flick’s side.
By the final whistle, the numbers were brutal. Raphinha up to nine league goals in six matches. Barcelona on 33 goals in seven games across all competitions. Another opponent swept aside.
Raphinha leads the charge
From the moment Barcelona settled into Racing’s half, Raphinha looked intent on deciding the night himself. His movement dragged defenders out of position, his finishing did the rest.
His treble not only killed the contest, it pushed him clear at the top of the league scoring charts. He has found the net in all but one game this season, a streak that now feels less like form and more like a standard he expects of himself.
Around him, the supporting cast joined in. Gabriel Jesus and João Cancelo both added their names to the scoresheet, while an own goal from Asier Villalibre deepened Racing’s misery. By the time Maguette Gueye and Yassir Zabiri struck for the visitors, the damage was long done.
Lamine Yamal’s chaotic night
If Raphinha’s evening was clinical, Lamine Yamal’s was chaotic, then cathartic.
The teenager had a goal ruled out for offside, then saw a penalty saved. He rattled the post. It felt, for a long stretch, as if the goal simply refused to come.
But the pressure finally told. Late on, Yamal finally found the net, a deserved reward after a performance full of intent, risk, and relentlessness. It was another reminder that Barcelona’s attack is not built around one star, but a wave of them.
Goals, goals, and more goals
Barcelona’s season has become a weekly test of how many they can score rather than whether they will.
They have hit at least five goals in five of their seven matches in all competitions. The only time they have failed to reach four was a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao – a routine result that now looks almost modest compared to the rest of their campaign.
In La Liga, Elche, Rayo Vallecano, Valencia and now Racing have all been swept aside. In Europe, Feyenoord felt the same force in the Champions League. Flick’s team is playing with a ferocity that leaves little room for doubt or drama.
The league table reflects it. Barcelona sit three points clear of Real Madrid, who won at Elche on Tuesday, but have yet to match the champions’ scoring avalanche.
A rare blemish in goal
Not everything went Barcelona’s way.
First-choice goalkeeper Joan García had to be replaced at halftime after an apparent injury, bringing Wojciech Szczesny into the game. The change unsettled Barcelona’s back line, and Szczesny’s one major involvement will not make any highlight reel in Catalonia.
Trying to control the ball inside his own area, the goalkeeper hesitated and was robbed in front of goal, gifting Racing one of their two strikes. On a different night, it might have shifted the mood. On this one, it was little more than a footnote.
Barcelona still finished with five goals more than their opponents. They still looked like a side capable of blowing open any match inside 20 minutes.
The question now is simple: in a season starting at this pace, who can actually slow them down?
