The goal that paved the way for the suffering Brazilian victory against Colombia was born from a raphinha film release to Vinicius Junior, which was run over inside the area by Defender Muñoz. Penalty! Raphinha himself introduced himself to hit. He walked slowly to the ball, wandered against goalkeeper Camilo Vargas and, with a touch of class, opened the scoring.
Shirt 11 is like this. Launches, finishes, hits fouls and penalties, strong brand, steals balls. Multiplying in different positions of midfield and attack has become one of the best players in the world today.
The numbers attest. Defending Barcelona’s colors, he is the Champions League top scorer. With 11 goals in 10 games, it is the Brazilian who scored the most goals in a single edition of the competition, surpassing, among others, Neymar and two winners of the Golden Ball –Rivaldo and Kaka.
He himself is considered one of the prize candidates this year, along with Frenchman Mbappé, Egyptian Mohamed Salah and his teammate Vinicius Junior.
In addition to the lawns, a good measure of the success of the Brazilian star is in bookstores. There are almost a dozen raphinha biographies in the British “Instant Books” market. The tone of the works often fell to self -help, presenting the Brazilian player as an example of overcoming. The authors are not at all wrong.
Endrick, Stephen, Vítor Roque, Vinicius Junior. Brazilians got used to reading about millionaire transfers of stars as teenagers to clubs of the European “top 10”. Raphinha only arrived in the family of the richest teams in the world when she was hired by Barcelona in 2022 at the age of 25. And it only reached its best version now, at 28. It was a brick brick built career, learning learning, but quite solidly.
Born in Restinga, a neighborhood from the outskirts of Porto Alegre, Raphael Dias Belolli never acted in a large club in Brazil. His only professional experience in the country was in Avaí. The first opportunity in Europe came in Vitória de Guimarães, a small club in northern Portugal. After standing out in medium teams in the European context, such as Sporting and Rennes, the opportunity to play in the mainland championship, the Premier League, emerged.
It was at Leeds United that Raphinha found the coach who changed his life: Marcelo Bielsa. Under the baton “El Loco”, as the Argentine countrymen call it, the Brazilian star learned that strikers have multiple functions, and one of them is to mark the defenders. Many of the goals that Raphinha scores today are born of this ability. Earlier this month, in the first game of Championship knockout against Benfica, in Lisbon, Raphinha was aware of a mistake of passing defender António Silva and scored the goal of victory.
It is possible that it was not by chance. European “top 10” clubs have monitoring departments that study opponents. Obsessive, Raphinha hired a statistical spy just for him, the Sports performance of Rio de Janeiro. He knows in advance, for example, which defenders often make a mistake and what is the favorite corner of the goalkeepers at the penalty time. Raphinha also trains obsessively charges of fouls. He insisted for Barcelona to buy an electronic barrier, which “jumps” at the time of kicks.
Raphinha has a huge ability to learn from great coaches, but chemistry doesn’t always work. The Brazilian striker, who stands out for the dribble, for the strength and speed, did not fit the exasperating exchange of passes of Spanish Xavi Hernández, his first coach in Barcelona. Everything changed with the arrival of German Hansi Flick, who took over the Blue and Grená club early last season. The Catalan team began to play fast, physical, objective, goal, aimed at Gol, ideal for raphinha shine.
Flick also encouraged Raphinha to develop skills in all positions of the attack on the right, left, half or retreated like a 10 shirt. In Barcelona, he forms a dream attack, where three generations meet and complete, taking turns in all positions.
His companions are Polish Robert Lewandowski, a player who as a little reason gradually matured – 36 years old, and only won the FIFA The Best Award, with 32 -, and Prodigy Lamine Yamal, who at the age of 17 is already a starter and highlight of the European Champion Spanish team. Raphinha is seen in the cast as a player who, besides shining, creates situations for his companions. He is among those who take turns with the team captain’s armband and is the Barcelona player with the most assists at Champions.
This collective capacity is lacking in the current Brazilian team. Against Colombia Brazil was again showed a team with many individual talents, such as Raphinha himself, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Gerson and Alisson, but without league. The team lacks someone who adds the parts and makes the engine gear. Perhaps this little name in its best version lights the missing spark.
Raphinha
Age: 28 years
Height: 1.76 meter
Teams where you already played professionally: Avaí (2016), Vitória de Guimarães B (2016), Vitória de Guimarães (2016-2018), Sporting (2018-2019), Rennes (2019-2020), Leeds (2020-2022), Barcelona (2022-today)
Titles: At Barcelona: Spanish champion (2022-2023), Spain Super Cup champion (2022-2023, 2024-2025). At Sporting de Lisboa: Portuguese Cup Champion (2018-2019), Champion of the Portuguese League Cup (2018-2019)
Performance in season 2024-2025
Champions League
Goals: 11
Assists: 5
Participation in goals: 50%
Spanish Championship
Goals: 13
Assists: 10
GOAL PARTICIPATIONS: 36%
Total Season: 27 goals and 20 assists in 42 games
Fountain: transfer market
