The most in-form player in Europe has made a blistering start to 2026/27
By Ben McAleer
Specifically, Raphinha’s omission from 30-man nomination list. Barcelona are well represented in the lead up to the individual award. Spanish trio Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Pau Cubarsí are the Blaugrana contingent in the running for the accolade, though in truth; only the former pair are genuine contenders for the 2026 award.
Even so, Raphinha at present is outperforming the trio, and, in truth, the other 27 players to make the cut for the prestigious gong. Indeed, the brilliant Brazilian has been directly involved in a goal in every competitive appearance for Hansi Flick’s men this season. He’s scored in all but one of eight outings, and even then; he provided a brace of assists as the defending LaLiga champions claimed a 4-2 win at Levante.
Saturday’s perfect hat-trick – the former Leeds United scored one with his right, another with his left, and the third with his head – took him to 12 league goals for the season. Even the great Lionel Messi failed to achieve the feat after the opening seven games of a league campaign at Barcelona.
What’s all the more important is that Raphinha’s form has come at a time when Barcelona ended the summer transfer window, arguably, a forward short. Marcus Rashford was replaced by Anthony Gordon. Karim Adeyemi’s arrival eased Ferran Torres’ move to Paris Saint-Germain. They ruthlessly pushed for Atlético Madrid hitman Julián Alvarez in their quest to replace Robert Lewandowski.
Naturally, Barcelona were never going to trigger Alvarez’s €500m release clause, and they needn’t have bothered with their pursuit of the Argentine. Turns out Barcelona had the perfect Lewandowski successor the whole time.
Joining for £69.3m, Gordon was never going to sign as a backup for the Brazil international on the left. Yamal is one of the first names on the team sheet down the right. Crowbarring Raphinha into the side could have backfired on Flick and Barcelona. In hindsight, it’s proven a masterstroke.
The 29-year-old has been granted the license to drift across the pitch not just in search of possession, but in order to drag markers out of position. Flick deploys inverted widemen in his favoured 4-3-3 setup. Left winger Gordon favours his right foot. Right winger Yamal prefers his left.
Raphinha’s willingness to drop a little deeper opens up space for the pair to exploit. He’s not a conventional number nine by any stretch, so there is no point acting like one. What is key, though, is that Raphinha is also capitalising upon the space he creates.
Speed has so often been a strong point of the forward’s game. When Raphinha switches on the afterburners, good luck keeping up with him. In wide areas, he had to cover greater distances to get into goalscoring areas. Now, his speed off the mark means he really comes alive inside the opposition box when he makes darting runs into the penalty area.
42 touches inside the opposition box ranks fifth in LaLiga this season. For context, Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé (85) tops this metric. The Frenchman spends more time in the area, because this plays to his strengths. For Raphinha, that lightning quick turn of pace so often bamboozles opposition defences.
It’s no coincidence that all 12 of his league goals this season have been scored inside the penalty area. Granted, three of them are penalties. Yet even so, Barcelona are proving even more potent when they break forward then last season, which is some going for a team that scored more goals (95) than any other team in the 2025/26 LaLiga campaign.
After all, their average of 4.43 league goals per game is almost double last season’s haul (2.5). Much of that is due to the speed of their attack having scored more counter-attacking goals (4) than any other team in Spain’s top tier. Raphinha has struck two of those. 14 shots following a counter attack is the third most in the division.
Crucially, too, is that not only is Raphinha able to get on the end of the ample chances that are created by this rampant Barcelona side, he’s proving incredibly efficient in front of goal. Of the 135 players to have managed at least five shots, only Pape Gueye (50%) boasts a better conversion rate than Raphinha (48%). The former has managed six shots. The latter has had 25. 11 of his 12 goals have been deemed big chances.
Back to García’s comments, however, and recency bias does play a part. That’s not suggesting Raphinha doesn’t deserve his flowers. He’s the most in-form player in Europe at present. Rather, over the course of the calendar year, the Barca star hasn’t quite hit the lofty heights, and that is through no fault of his own.
Injuries have wreaked havoc on both his playing time and his consistency. It’s denied Raphinha the chance to gain a head of steam for both club and country. As such, Flick’s use of the forward will prove beneficial for the player as he relies on shorter, sharper bursts rather than prolonged sprints that increase the likelihood of muscle injuries.
And if he can avoid a reoccurrence of those pesky problems going forward, then he’ll undoubtedly be in the running for the 2027 award. Barcelona are tearing opponents to shreds without showing a modicum of sympathy. If he can fire them to domestic and continental glory, then he’ll be in the running.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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