Raphinha hat-trick fires Barcelona to seven-goal win over Santander
Raphinha scored a hat-trick as Barcelona maintained their perfect start to the La Liga season with a stunning 7-2 win over Racing Santander.
Hansi Flick’s side made it six wins from six matches in style, producing another dominant attacking performance to remain at the top of the table.
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Joao Cancelo set the tone after just eight minutes with a spectacular effort from 25 yards. The Portugal international’s strike crashed in off the underside of the crossbar to give Barcelona an early lead.
Raphinha takes centre stage
Barcelona doubled their advantage midway through the first half after Raphinha won a penalty following a challenge from Pedro Felipe.
The Brazilian stepped up and calmly converted from the spot, although Santander briefly threatened to disrupt the hosts’ control when Maguette Gueye finished after excellent work inside the area.
Barcelona restored their two-goal advantage when Cancelo’s powerful effort took a heavy deflection off Asier Villalibre and found the net.
Raphinha then added his second before the interval, finishing from Dani Olmo’s pass to put Barcelona 4-1 ahead.
Lamine Yamal had the chance to add another before half-time, but Santander goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala kept out his penalty.
Barcelona respond to Szczesny error
Barcelona were given an unexpected scare shortly after the restart when substitute goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny lost possession in a dangerous position.
Yassir Zabiri capitalised on the mistake, reducing the deficit to 4-2 and briefly giving the visitors hope of a comeback.
Those hopes quickly disappeared, however, as Raphinha completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot to restore Barcelona’s three-goal cushion.
Gabriel Jesus then made it 6-2 with a composed finish into the far corner before Yamal completed the rout on the counter-attack.
The result keeps Barcelona as the only side in the Spanish top flight with a 100% record after six matches, while Santander remain tenth, at least temporarily.