Barcelona Maintain Perfect Start as Raphinha Scores Hat-Trick Against Sevilla

Barcelona’s start to the season stays spotless, and on Saturday night it came with a scare, a response, and a statement.

Sevilla struck first. The visitors silenced the home crowd by taking the lead and briefly snapping Barça out of their early-season comfort. The goal jolted Hansi Flick’s side, and from that moment the game tilted.

The reaction was ruthless.

Raphinha took over, dragging Barcelona back into the match and then beyond Sevilla’s reach. The Brazilian hit a hat-trick, turning a deficit into a 3-1 win and preserving Barça’s perfect record. Every time Sevilla thought they had survived the storm, Raphinha reappeared in the final third, decisive and sharp.

In the middle of it all, Rodri. The Spain international may not have been the headline act on the scoresheet, but he walked off the pitch a satisfied man and made sure the spotlight was shared.

“For me, today Rapha was outstanding, Lamine was also very good, and Adeyemi, I really liked how he came on in the second half,” he said afterwards, picking out the three teammates he felt tilted the contest.

The praise for Raphinha was inevitable. Lamine’s impact, with his direct running and fearless decisions, kept Sevilla pinned back as Barcelona chased the turnaround. Then came Adeyemi, injected after the break, adding fresh legs and aggression just as the game opened up.

Rodri’s own message, though, was about what comes next.

“We’re not going to lose our rhythm, we’re going to keep competing. We need to keep in mind that these are important matches and come back in the best possible shape,” he insisted, underlining the mentality Flick is trying to hard-wire into this group.

There was also a nod to the other side of the night: injury and opportunity. Andreas Christensen was forced off, a worrying sight in an otherwise buoyant evening, but his replacement seized the moment.

“Gerard Martín has been sensational. Such a shame about Christensen’s injury,” Rodri added, giving the young defender his due after a composed display under pressure.

If Rodri was busy distributing compliments, his manager was just as quick to send one back his way. Flick, who has leaned on the midfielder to give structure to Barça’s new-look system, did not hide his admiration.

“Rodri is a great player, both with and without the ball. He controls everything and gives us composure in our positional play. I think he connects well with Pedri and the center-backs. Overall, I think we can be happy with what we did,” the Barcelona boss said.

Control, connection, composure – the words fit the performance. Even after falling behind, Barcelona never looked frantic. They tightened their grip on the ball, trusted their patterns, and let their attacking talent decide the night.

Now comes a pause. Barcelona head into the break with momentum, a perfect record, and a growing sense of identity under Flick. They return on October 10th against Getafe, with one question hanging over the rest of the league:

If this is them just getting started, what happens when they really hit top gear?