Raphinha breaks Messi's record and closes in on Cristiano Ronaldo

Raphinha continues to shine for FC Barcelona, breaking a record previously held by Lionel Messi after scoring three goals against Sevilla in LaLiga.

Raphinha has increased his tally to 12 goals in the first 7 rounds of LaLiga, leading the scoring chart, surpassing Messi's best scoring start, who scored 11 goals in the first 7 rounds of the 2017/2018 season.

According to "Mundo Deportivo", Raphinha has also matched the best scoring start for four players: Mariano Martín with FC Barcelona, who scored 12 goals, Brodin with Atlético Madrid, Campanal with Sevilla in the 1940/1941 season, and Quiñi with Sporting in the 1979/1980 season.

Only Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more goals than Raphinha in the first 7 rounds, having netted 13 goals with Real Madrid in the 2014/2015 season, and Echevarría, who scored 14 goals with Real Oviedo.

Raphinha has the chance to continue chasing Cristiano Ronaldo's record, as the Portuguese star scored 16 goals in the first 8 rounds of the 2014/2015 season. This means that the Barcelona player will need to score 4 goals against Getafe in the upcoming match on October 10 to equal that record.

Raphinha could achieve a historic milestone by scoring three goals in the next match, becoming the third player in LaLiga history to net three goals in three consecutive matches, following Messi and Luis Suárez. This would also equal the record set by Langara with Oviedo in the 1934/1935 season and Zarra with Athletic Bilbao in the 1946/1947 season.

Raphinha's impressive numbers continue to rise as FC Barcelona faced Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League, having taken 22 shots since the start of the season, with only one going off target. Two shots hit the post, and 14 out of 19 attempts between the posts and crossbar turned into goals.

Data from the Catalonia Radio television indicated that this scoring accuracy places Raphinha among the level of prominent strikers such as Romário, Ronaldo, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suárez, Lewandowski, Haaland, and Harry Kane, making the Brazilian one of the key attacking solutions for coach Hans Flick.