It has been a fantastic start to the season for Barcelona, who have won each of their opening four matches to establish themselves as La Liga leaders going into the first international break of the campaign. Saturday’s 7-0 thrashing of Real Valladolid epitomised the good sensations on-field for the Catalan giants, and the star of the show at the Estadi Olimpic was Raphinha.
Raphinha scored his first career hat-trick during the 90 minutes, and he also laid on Ferran Torres for the final goal of the game. It’s been a sensation start to the season for the Brazilian winger, whose performances have been excellent in every match he has played.
MD say that the reason for Raphinha’s significant upturn in form this season, which did carry over somewhat from the final few months of the previous campaign, is to do with confidence being shown in him from club officials.
"Now Raphinha feels important", they recognize within the club. "He is confident and that is helping him a lot". @RogerTorello
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 1, 2024
Raphinha has never been the main man for Barcelona in a position since his arrival in 2022. He played second-fiddle to Ousmane Dembele for the first season, and it was Lamine Yamal that was ahead of him during the 2023-24 campaign. However, he’s now made the left-wing position his own – club officials will hope that this continues to be the case for some time to come.
Barcelona should have explored ways of drifting out of their financial predicament, and as well increase their serious depth in the left wing, right back, central attack and central defence. They should improve on their permanent sales or mid-term loan releases of their academy talents so as to raise significant sums to buy iconic in-demand players. That will raise the bar for the revival of much competitive el clasico.