After 9 years: Raphinha repeats Messi's stunning start

Originally posted on Goal.com | By Loai Mohamed | Last updated Sep 17, 2026 5:53 AM ET

The Brazilian star outperforms all players in the major leagues

Brazil's Raphinha has carried his blistering start to the season into the record books, matching a mark Lionel Messi set for Barcelona nine years ago.

The Barcelona star hit a hat-trick against Racing Santander, driving the Catalans to an emphatic 7-2 win on Wednesday evening in the sixth round of the Spanish league.

Those goals took his tally to nine in La Liga, enough to top the scoring charts. Kylian Mbappe had briefly led the way with seven on Tuesday, only for Raphinha to reclaim the summit.

France's "Stats du Foot" network report that no player has scored nine goals in the opening six games of a La Liga season since Messi managed the feat at the start of 2017-18.

Raphinha devient le 1er joueur à inscrire 9 buts après 6 journées en Liga depuis Lionel Messi en 2017/18 (9).

Raphinha (11 réalisations) est le meilleur buteur avec un club du Top 5 européen en compétition officielle cette saison. #FCBSAN
— Stats Foot (@Statsdufoot) September 16, 2026

Where did they come from? Raphinha struck three against Racing Santander, two against Elche, two against Rayo Vallecano, one against Athletic Bilbao and one against Valencia. Only Levante kept him quiet.

Messi, nine years ago, spread his nine across three fixtures: four against Eibar, three against Espanyol and two against Alaves.

The Argentine went on to finish that campaign with 34 goals, top of the La Liga scoring charts.

Raphinha's numbers stretch even further across all competitions. He has 11 goals since the season began, two of them in the Champions League, more than any other player at a club in the big five leagues.

This article first appeared on Goal.com and was syndicated with permission.

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