Raphinha scored two penalties, and walked away with the match ball after FC Barcelona beat Sevilla FC 5-2 on Sunday, a hat-trick that kept the Catalan side four points clear of Real Madrid in La Liga.
After the game, still holding the ball, he offered a quick explanation for the contrast between the two kicks. “You have to change things a little because the goalkeepers already expect what you’re going to do.”
The first one came early, as João Cancelo went down in the box and Raphinha stepped up in the ninth
minute, lifting a delicate “Panenka” shot past Odysseas Vlachodimos. Sevilla barely had time to reset before Cancelo earned another penalty. This time the Brazilian drove it low to the goalkeeper’s right. Vlachodimos guessed the direction and got a touch, but it still slipped in.
Raphinha has now scored 18 of the 19 penalties he has taken in senior football, spread across spells in Portugal, France, England, and Spain. And he’s always varied his approach. At Stade Rennais he started using a short hop before striking the ball, something that is known as Robert Lewandowski’s signature move. During his time at Leeds United, he tended to switch sides from one penalty to the next, left on one attempt, right on the following.
At Barcelona the run-up slowed down. Raphinha now approaches the ball carefully, waiting for the goalkeeper to blink first. The last couple of steps speed up sharply. If the keeper moves early, the finish can change at the final moment. But even then, the placement tends to always stay low. Only once in a Barcelona shirt has he sent a penalty high, preferring corners along the ground where even the right guess often arrives a fraction too late.
His first chance to take one for the club did not come immediately after arriving in 2022. Nearly two years passed between his final penalty for Leeds and the first he struck for Barcelona. Since then, the success rate has stayed perfect, and its continued to this season, where he is five for five.
He’s not Barcelona’s only taker, and the responsibility has been shared. In the UEFA Champions League draw at St James’ Park earlier this month, Raphinha even handed the ball to Yamal for a last-minute kick against Newcastle United. Yamal stepped up and scored, earning a crucial last-gasp draw in England. The young superstar has taken pens several times this year and converted four of five. Lewandowski has one goal from three attempts. It’s safe to say Barcelona has plenty to keep opposing goalkeepers guessing from the spot.
