Raphinha scored another hat-trick on Saturday night against Sevilla as the Barcelona captain maintained his stunning start to the new season.
Sevilla had taken the lead at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan but Raphinha hit back with another impressive goal to hit double figures in the top flight.
He wasn’t done there either. Raphinha headed Barcelona in front in the second half after great work from Lamine Yamal and then completed his perfect hat-trick to make it 3-1 to seal all three points.
According to Opta,
Raphinha has become just the third player to reach this figure after his team’s first seven matches in a season of the competition in the 21st century.
The only other two players to achieve the feat are Lionel Messi for Barcelona in 2011-12 (10) and 2017-18 (11) and Cristiano Ronaldo for Real in 2014-15 (13).
Raphinha’s goals mean he sits top of the goalscoring standings in La Liga, five clear of nearest challengers Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe.
Lamine Yamal was also in record-breaking form. His assist was his 51st in 159 matches with Barcelona across all competitions, per Opta.
He is the youngest La Liga player to reach 50 goal assists since, at least, the 2013/14 season (19 years and 68 days), beating the record previously held by Vinícius Júnior, who notched his 50th assist with Real Madrid in May 2023 at 22 years and 298 days.
Not a bad night’s work.
