Raphinha's Hat Trick Leads Barcelona to 7–2 Victory Over Racing

Raphinha is turning Barcelona’s fast start into something far more ominous for the rest of La Liga.

The Brazilian forward struck a ruthless hat trick on Wednesday as Barça demolished Racing Santander 7–2, stretching their perfect league record to six wins from six and underlining just how brutal Hansi Flick’s side have become in front of goal.

He now sits alone at the top of the scoring charts: nine goals in six league matches, and a strike in all but one game this season. Right now, if Barcelona score, chances are his fingerprints are on it.

A flood of goals, again

This was not a contest for long. Barcelona, who have hit at least five goals in five of their seven games across all competitions, tore into Racing with the same relentlessness that has already buried Elche, Rayo Vallecano and Valencia in La Liga, and Feyenoord in the Champions League.

Raphinha led the way, but he had plenty of company.

Lamine Yamal finally got his goal late on, having endured a wild night of near-misses: one strike ruled out for offside, a penalty squandered, and another effort crashing off the post. The teenager kept demanding the ball, kept attacking, and the reward eventually came.

Gabriel Jesus and João Cancelo also found the net, while an own goal from Asier Villalibre added to Racing’s misery. The visitors at least salvaged a touch of pride through goals from Maguette Gueye and Yassir Zabiri, but by then the scoreline had long since turned into damage limitation.

The numbers behind the storm

Flick’s Barcelona are not just winning; they are overwhelming teams. Across seven matches in all competitions, they have outscored opponents 33–7. Only once have they failed to hit at least four goals this season, in a relatively restrained 2–0 win over Athletic Bilbao.

That output has carried them to a three-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of the table, after Madrid’s own win at Elche on Tuesday. Early days, yes, but the scale of Barcelona’s dominance is already warping the title race.

A rare blemish at the back

The only real concern for Flick came in goal.

Joan García, who started the match, was forced off at halftime with an apparent injury, bringing Wojciech Szczesny into the game. The experienced Pole then gifted Racing one of their goals with a costly mistake, losing the ball inside his own area and being robbed right in front of the net.

On a night when Barcelona’s attack once again looked unstoppable, that slip was a reminder that even this machine still has moving parts to tighten.

If they do, and if Raphinha keeps scoring at this rate, the real question is how long anyone can keep pace with them.