After 9 years: Raphinha repeats Messi's stunning start
Baku, September 17, AZERTAC
Brazil's Raphinha has carried his blistering start to the season into the record books, matching a mark Lionel Messi set for Barcelona nine years ago, according to Goal.com.
The Barcelona star hit a hat-trick against Racing Santander, driving the Catalans to an emphatic 7-2 win on Wednesday evening in the sixth round of the Spanish league.
Those goals took his tally to nine in La Liga, enough to top the scoring charts. Kylian Mbappe had briefly led the way with seven on Tuesday, only for Raphinha to reclaim the summit.
France's "Stats du Foot" network report that no player has scored nine goals in the opening six games of a La Liga season since Messi managed the feat at the start of 2017-18.
Raphinha struck three against Racing Santander, two against Elche, two against Rayo Vallecano, one against Athletic Bilbao and one against Valencia. Only Levante kept him quiet.
Messi, nine years ago, spread his nine across three fixtures: four against Eibar, three against Espanyol and two against Alaves.
The Argentine went on to finish that campaign with 34 goals, top of the La Liga scoring charts.
Raphinha's numbers stretch even further across all competitions. He has 11 goals since the season began, two of them in the Champions League, more than any other player at a club in the big five leagues.
Other news in this section
