Raphinha was always a great player, but this season he is truly writing his name among the stars. His performances just get better and better under Hansi Flick, for whom he is now an automatic starter. He looks more dedicated and confident than ever, and while he’s been a headache for opposing defenders, for his team-mates he has been an incredible ally.
This week we also got to see how his form has been transferred to the international stage. Incomprehensibly, Raphinha wasn’t even called up for the last international break, while this time he was one of the standout figures in a 2-1 win in Chile and a 4-0 rout of Peru in Brasilia, where he scored two of the goals from the penalty spot.
After nine league games, Barça’s Brazilian has already created an extraordinary 32 goalscoring opportunities for his colleagues, more than any other player in Europe’s five biggest leagues. The nearest anyone can come to him is the 27 made by Bukayo Saka of Arsenal, followed by Kevin Stöger of Borussia Mönchengladbach on 26 and Álex Baena of Villarreal on 25 (the second highest tally in La Liga).
To show just what an amazing number 32 is, only a very few Barça players have achieved anything comparable since this statistic has been available (2003). After nine games, only Xavi Hernández (34 in 2008/09) had managed to create more shots on goal.
In third we have the 31 made by Leo Messi in 2014/15 and Neymar the year after (2015/16), while the only other time the 30 mark was reached was by that man Xavi again (2009/10).
