Barcelona Maintains Perfect Start with Raphinha's Hat-Trick

Barcelona’s perfect start rolls on. The performance, though, belonged to one man in the middle.

Rodri walked off the pitch at the weekend with a grin that said everything. Barcelona had just overturned an early Sevilla lead to win 3-1, driven by a ruthless Raphinha hat-trick that kept their 100% record intact.

Sevilla had drawn first blood, silencing the home crowd and briefly testing Barcelona’s nerve. The response was sharp and unforgiving. Raphinha struck three times, ripping through Sevilla’s back line and turning a dangerous night into another statement win.

In the mixed zone afterwards, Rodri was quick to share the spotlight. The midfielder picked out three team-mates in particular.

“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, underlining the blend of established quality and youthful spark that is driving this side.

The message from Rodri went beyond one night’s work. The Spain international was clear about the standards being set inside the dressing room.

“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.”

The rhythm he talked about was visible all over the pitch, not least at the back. An injury to Andreas Christensen could easily have unsettled Barcelona, but his replacement, Gerard Martín, stepped in without blinking.

“Gerard Martín has been sensational. Such a shame about Christensen’s injury,” Rodri added, mixing praise with concern on a night that demanded both resilience and control.

On the touchline, Hansi Flick saw something else: a conductor in the middle of his orchestra. The Barcelona coach reserved some of his warmest words for Rodri himself.

“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.”

Control, connection, composure. It is becoming a familiar pattern when Rodri plays. With Pedri alongside him and the center-backs behind, Barcelona’s structure looks solid, their transitions cleaner, their attacks more measured.

Now comes a pause. After a blistering start to the season, Barcelona step away for a short break, their momentum banked rather than broken. They return on October 10th against Getafe, with a perfect record to defend and a midfield general already setting the tone for what this campaign might become.