Bangla Press Desk: Lionel Messi's records in a Barcelona jersey often seem untouchable. However, at the start of the 2026-27 season, Raphinha is beginning to challenge that seemingly impossible equation.
Playing in a new position, the Brazilian forward has already found the back of the net eight times in five matches.
After Lewandowski and Torres left the club—and following a failed attempt to sign Julian Alvarez in the transfer market—the Barca coach deployed Raphinha as a 'number nine.' That move proved to be a stroke of genius! Following Raphinha's sensational form after reinventing himself as a center-forward, seven of Messi's legendary records have now come into focus.
Messi made history in the 2012-13 La Liga season by scoring in 21 consecutive matches.
Raphinha has scored in all four of his opening La Liga matches this season. He still has a long way to go to maintain that streak.
Messi scored 14 goals for Barca in the Champions League during the 2011-12 season. Raphinha has already netted a brace in the team's opening match of this season's elite European competition.
With the expanded format offering more matches—including the knockout stages—Messi's record seems well within Raphinha's reach.
For 12 consecutive seasons, Messi maintained an average rating above 8.00 (peaking at 8.88) according to WhoScored statistics. Raphinha's rating so far this season stands at 8.72, coming very close to Messi's historic benchmark.
Breaking Messi's epic record of 50 La Liga goals from the 2011-12 season is nearly impossible. However, if Raphinha—who has scored six goals in four league games—maintains his current average of 1.5 goals per match over the full 38-game season, the mathematical projection reaches 57!
Messi set a unique record by scoring eight hat-tricks in a single La Liga season. Playing in a new position and receiving service from the likes of Yamal, Pedri, and Fermín, the Brazilian star can certainly dream of scoring multiple hat-tricks.
Lionel Messi holds the record of scoring in 27 out of 38 matches in a single season; Raphinha is currently following that same path, having found the net in all four of his league games so far.
Raphinha’s statistics this season are even challenging the surreal record of 73 goals Messi scored across all competitions in the 2011–12 season. If he can maintain this devastating form—8 goals in 5 matches—throughout a full 50-game season, his goal tally could approach the 80-mark!
It is only the beginning of the season, so drawing such comparisons this early might seem a bit premature. However, given the way Raphinha is dictating play, one can certainly dare to look towards Messi’s seemingly ‘unreachable’ records! Source: kaler kontho
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