Raphinha Shines as Fermín López Returns to Spain National Team

At the final whistle in the Sanchez Pizjuan, Fermín López allowed himself a rare moment to breathe. The scoreboard said three points, but his smile carried something heavier: relief, redemption, and the promise of a Spain shirt waiting for him again.

The La Masia product, born just up the road in El Campillo, has been recalled by Luis de la Fuente for Spain’s upcoming Nations League fixtures. For a 23-year-old who had to watch the 2026 World Cup from home because of injury, this call-up hits differently.

“I am very happy to return to the national team. It was very hard not to go to the World Cup. I have started the season well and I am happy to return to the national team,” Fermín admitted, the words tumbling out with the honesty of someone who has carried that disappointment all summer.

Yet on this night, under the noise and heat of Sevilla’s home crowd, the spotlight didn’t just fall on the returning international. It burned brightest on Raphinha.

Raphinha, the “unexpected number nine”

Sevilla pressed, harried, and roared their team forward. They always do here. The Sanchez Pizjuan is built for suffocating visiting sides, and Fermín didn’t pretend otherwise. He spoke openly about the strain of playing in such a hostile setting, the constant pressure on the ball, the need to think and act a second quicker.

But every time Sevilla overcommitted, one man punished them.

Raphinha’s hat-trick ripped through the home defence and underlined a transformation that has quietly become one of the stories of the early season. Under Hansi Flick, the Brazilian has been pushed away from his familiar touchline role and into central zones, operating like a striker rather than a chalk-on-the-boots winger.

The numbers are brutal. Twelve goals in seven matches. A start that plants him firmly at the front of the Pichichi race and forces a rethink of what kind of forward he really is.

“Raphinha is our unexpected number nine. It’s tremendous what Raphinha is doing. He is very good and he adapts to any position. We give him the passes and he scores the goals. He had never played as a center forward and he is putting up very good numbers,” Fermín said, half in admiration, half in disbelief.

The description fits. Raphinha is not the classic reference point striker, yet his movement between the lines, his timing into the box, and his ruthlessness in front of goal are starting to look anything but improvised. This is a winger learning to live — and thrive — in the most punishing area of the pitch.

High press, high stakes

If Raphinha supplied the finishing, the framework came from Flick’s demands and the squad’s willingness to suffer without the ball. Fermín lifted the curtain slightly on the tactical script they are following.

“Sevilla puts a lot of pressure on us here at their stadium, and Raphinha’s three goals have been decisive. The manager asks us to be very intense, to press high after losing possession,” he revealed.

That last line matters. This is not a side content to drop off and absorb. The instruction is clear: lose it, hunt it. High up, immediately, collectively. Against a team like Sevilla, who thrive on chaos and transitions, that approach is a gamble. Get it wrong and you’re exposed. Get it right and you break their rhythm at the source.

On this night, the risk paid off. The press forced mistakes, the mistakes fed transitions, and the transitions found Raphinha in the kind of central positions where matches are decided.

For Fermín, the journey is looping back toward the national team, his season rebooted after the pain of missing a World Cup. For Raphinha, the path is suddenly pointing toward something even bigger: a campaign where he is no longer just a dangerous winger, but a genuine contender to finish as La Liga’s most lethal forward.