Raphinha scored a hat-trick as Barcelona maintained their perfect start to the LaLiga season with a dominant 7-2 victory over Racing Santander at Camp Nou on Wednesday.
The defending champions secured their sixth consecutive league win, with Raphinha’s treble and two spectacular goals from Joao Cancelo highlighting another emphatic attacking display from Hansi Flick’s side.
Cancelo opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a stunning finish. After receiving Lamine Yamal’s diagonal pass, the full-back cut inside and curled a superb 20-yard effort beyond Julen Agirrezabala, with the ball clipping the crossbar before finding the net.
Barcelona continued to threaten, although Karim Adeyemi missed two opportunities to extend the lead.
The hosts eventually doubled their advantage in the 25th minute when Raphinha won a penalty and confidently sent the ball into the bottom-right corner after being fouled by Pedro Felipe.
Racing responded five minutes later as Maguette Gueye lifted the ball over Joan Garcia to reduce the deficit.
Cancelo restored Barcelona’s two-goal cushion shortly afterwards, producing another brilliant long-range strike that flew into the top-left corner.
Raphinha then added his second after collecting Dani Olmo’s clever pass before firing a low effort past Agirrezabala.
The Brazilian later showed his team-first mentality by allowing Yamal to take a penalty after Felipe brought down Adeyemi. However, the Spain international saw his effort saved by Agirrezabala just before half-time.
Yamal was denied again after the interval when his effort struck the post.
Racing pulled another goal back when Yassir Zabiri capitalised on a mistake from substitute goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, but Raphinha restored Barcelona’s three-goal advantage two minutes later by converting another penalty into the same corner as his first.
Yamal had another goal ruled out for offside before finally turning provider for Gabriel Jesus, who found the top-right corner with 11 minutes remaining.
The Spain winger eventually got on the scoresheet in the 89th minute, finishing first-time after Adeyemi picked him out with a cutback to complete another impressive outing for the champions.
Barcelona Maintain Perfect Start
The victory marks the sixth time this century that Barcelona have won their opening six LaLiga matches.
On four of the previous five occasions they achieved the same feat, the Catalan giants went on to win the league title. The exception came in the 2013-14 campaign, when they finished runners-up.
Barcelona’s attacking numbers have been particularly impressive. Flick’s team have now scored 28 goals, the highest tally in the competition and 11 more than second-placed Real Madrid’s 17.
Raphinha has been central to that attacking success after adapting to Flick’s decision to use him as a false nine. The Brazilian now has nine goals and three assists from his six league appearances this season.
Cancelo’s brace was equally eye-catching, with his two long-range efforts carrying a combined expected-goals value of just 0.047, highlighting the difficulty and quality of the finishes.
Barcelona also dominated the underlying numbers, registering 6.65 expected goals (xG) compared with Racing’s 1.86.
Yamal finally got his reward after several near misses and now has goals in four consecutive LaLiga matches, with seven goals overall this season.
For Racing, there were limited positives to take from the heavy defeat, although Zabiri’s impressive form continued. The forward now has six goals in six league matches and will be an important figure in Racing’s attempt to avoid an immediate return to the Segunda Division.