Barcelona's forward, Raphinha, provided an unforgettable night by scoring a hat-trick in the 4-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League. For the fans, this victory was a kind of 'revenge' for previous results against the German giants.
Before this night, only three players had scored hat-tricks against Bayern Munich in the history of this competition — they were:
Roy Makaay
Sergio Aguero
Cristiano Ronaldo
A fourth player has just been added to this list:
NEW: Raphinha
An electrifying performance from the 27-year-old player.
Raphinha has just become the fourth player from South America's footballing center to score a hat-trick in the Champions League for Barça.
Raphinha's Key Moment
The game began, and Raphinha rounded Manuel Neuer within a minute to open the scoring. Bayern fought back. Harry Kane was denied by Barça's goalkeeper Iñaki Peña, had a goal disallowed for offside, and finally equalized. Between Raphinha's and Kane's goals, Barça had been very passive, and Bayern had control. The English striker's equalizer woke them up, and they began pressing again, all while maintaining the high line that has characterized Barça under Flick so far.
Robert Lewandowski restored the hosts' lead and then Raphinha took center stage. He received a pass from Marc Casadó just before halftime and skillfully finished from the edge of the area. Then, in the 56th minute, he beautifully controlled a ball from Lamine Yamal with his chest and fired his shot past Neuer into the bottom corner to crown his 100th appearance for the Catalan club with a hat-trick.
Manager's Endorsement
"Raphinha is a great example of how the team works," Flick said in a press conference. "He is someone who always gives everything in training and in games as well; he plays with a lot of intensity. He is very important for us, as he presses, and today we saw that he also scores goals.
"He is a player who is defensively and offensively inclined, with intensity, dynamism, and technique... We have an excellent team, and these characteristics fit us perfectly. But I must also highlight that the entire team has great quality. Everyone was superb in possession of the ball in the second half, whether it was Lamine, Casadó, or Cubarsí. At their age, it's a superb level of performance."
A Great Return to Form
Raphinha becomes the first Brazilian from Barça to score a hat-trick in the Champions League since Neymar did it in 2013. Besides him, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo also achieved this feat. However, many believed Raphinha should never have been at this level. In fact, the idea of his departure was even floated last summer. Consequently, he was furious to learn that some Barça fans purchased shirts with his number 11 on the back, but, to his frustration, with the name of Nico Williams — the Athletic Club winger who was linked to Barça at the time. Thus, this episode reinforced the feeling of disrespect he experienced. "It was disrespectful," he said on Tuesday before the game with Bayern. "It hurt. People need to respect the players who are here."
Respect Regained
There wasn't a single Barça fan among the crowd of 50,312 whose respect he hadn't earned when he scored his third goal. Up in the second tier, behind one of the goals, even the 3,000 Bayern fans must have begrudgingly respected what they had just witnessed from the former Leeds United player.
This was also not an abnormal performance. He had already scored a hat-trick this season, against Real Valladolid in LaLiga, and now has nine goals for the campaign across all competitions -- and another six assists. To put this into perspective, he only scored 10 goals in each of his first two seasons with Barça. It's only October 23.
When the final whistle blew, more celebrations followed. The Barça players tossed Raphinha into the air, and he received the MVP trophy. "It'll be for my son, although he prefers the balls," he said when asked where he would place the trophy. Luckily, his hat-trick also earned him the match ball. His son will be happy.
With this victory, Barcelona renews its hopes in the Champions League and now prepares for a crucial clash in Madrid, where a win could extend their lead in the table over their rivals.
