Raphinha hat-trick keeps Barcelona perfect and top of La Liga

Barcelona maintained their 100% start to the La Liga season with a 3-1 victory over Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, as Raphinha scored a hat-trick for the second consecutive match.

Sevilla took the lead in the 19th minute when Youssef Fofana headed home after Felix Correa’s individual run and cross towards the near post. Raphinha levelled three minutes later, driving a low shot into the net following a pass from Fermin Lopez.

Barcelona went ahead two minutes after half-time. Lamine Yamal delivered an accurate cross and Raphinha headed beyond the Sevilla goalkeeper.

The Brazil international completed his hat-trick in the 70th minute, running through on goal after a pass from Yamal from the halfway line before finishing past the goalkeeper.

The result leaves Barcelona top of La Liga with 21 points from seven wins in seven matches. Sevilla remain fifth on 13 points.

Raphinha now has 12 goals in La Liga in the 2026-2027 season and leads the scoring charts by five goals from Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe and Yamal.

It is his second successive hat-trick after he scored three times against Racing Santander in Barcelona’s previous league match, in the sixth round of fixtures.

His goals against Sevilla came with his head and both feet. He is the first Barcelona player to achieve that since Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick against Cordoba in 2015.

Raphinha has become the third player in the 21st century to reach 12 goals after his team’s first seven matches of a La Liga season. The two players previously listed are Lionel Messi, who scored 10 in 2011-2012 and 11 in 2017-2018, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 13 for Real Madrid in 2014-2015.

Yamal struck the right post with a powerful effort in the eighth minute and sent another shot narrowly wide shortly after the interval. Raphinha also hit the same post with a curling corner in the 64th minute.

Yamal registered his 51st assist in 159 appearances for Barcelona in all competitions, becoming the youngest player in La Liga to reach 50 assists since at least the 2013-2014 season, aged 19 years and 68 days. The previous record belonged to Vinicius Junior, who recorded his 50th assist for Real Madrid in May 2023 at 22 years and 298 days.

Barcelona manager Hans Flick made several changes to his starting line-up, including bringing in Fermin Lopez for Dani Olmo and selecting Anthony Gordon ahead of Karim Adeyemi.

Barcelona will face Getafe at Camp Nou on Saturday, 10 October, after the international break. Sevilla play Levante on Monday, 12 October.