FC Barcelona is running a riot at the moment. The Catalonian club has been at the top of the La Liga table with 9 wins out of 10 games. On Wednesday night, they broke their long-run curse against Bayern Munich. Under Hansi Flick, the side has completely changed the dynamics of playing football, being more direct and fluid with the pass and movements off the ball.
The Blaugranes on Wednesday was excellent against their old rivals from Germany. Raphinha was the star of the match. Playing his 100th game for the club, he was amazing on the pitch. The Brazilian scored a hat trick against the Bavarians with Manuel Neuer on the opponent’s goal. He was clinical with his finishing. The 27-year-old scored in the first minute of the game after Bayern gave the ball away in the midfield.
Fermin Lopez found his captain onside and delivered the pass, as the winger finished calmly. Bayern later started to build on the pressure and took advantage of Barca’s highline defense and broke out the offside trap with Harry Kane equalising. The away side was looking very dangerous in the first 30 minutes of the game. Robert Lewandowski scored his 15th goal of the season for Barca to give them the lead back.
Raphinha doing justice under Hansi Flick
Did Raphinha remind of prime Ronaldinho? The Brazilian winger has been nicknamed as Rapha-Dinho. He was right in place during the two goals he scored. The two balls that he received from Marc Casado and Lamine Yamal were similar diagonal overhead crosses from inside their half-line. The second goal was much more special beating Neuer at the far bottom corner with his weaker right foot.
Raphinha now has 17 G/A for FC Barcelona in the season. He has redefined himself under Hansi Flick, with the German coach’s tactics suiting his style of play as it is more direct he does not play out as an all and all winger and comes to the No.10 position behind Lewandowski to create space and score as well. Currently, he has been doing justice to the No.11 shirt of Barca.
