Raphinha’s 13-goal La Liga start puts him in rare Ronaldo company

Raphinha has matched a scoring feat not seen in more than a decade, despite Barcelona suffering a 2-1 defeat by Real Madrid in Sunday’s Clasico.

The Brazil forward scored Barcelona’s only goal at Camp Nou, drawing the hosts level in the 61st minute after Real Madrid had taken the lead. Kylian Mbappe then settled the match with the winning goal in the 87th minute.

Raphinha’s strike took his tally to 13 goals in the opening 10 rounds of the Spanish league season. According to Tribuna, he is the first player to reach that figure at this stage of a campaign since Cristiano Ronaldo achieved an even more impressive start with Real Madrid in 2014-15.

Ronaldo scored 17 times in his first 10 league appearances that season, establishing a benchmark that remained unmatched for more than 10 years.

Raphinha has now come closest to that mark, with his prolific opening to the current campaign placing him alongside one of Real Madrid’s greatest goalscorers in the history of the competition.