Raphinha, named MVP, Lamine Yamal and Lewandowski shine against Madrid.
In front of what could be the best goalkeeper in the world. Against a saver capable of saving the impossible. Against a wall like Courtois. Without wavering. Without getting discouraged. With perseverance. With supreme quality. With aggression. With a touch of velvet. With a steel cannon. With everything. With a beast’s attack line. With an attacking force that repeated its autumn performance at the Bernabéu. Lamine Yamal, Lewandowski and Raphinha, chosen as the best player of the final, recovered their best individual and collective form. Four goals were scored at the Santiago Bernabéu on 26 October, the same number achieved in Yida.
The Polish striker and the Brazilian had greatly felt the absences of the young prodigy from Rocafonda due to injury, and the team suffered as a result. But now they are back. Lurking. On the attack. Commit. Go wild.
Raphinha showcased his skills once again against Lucas Vázquez, just as he did in Chamartín. Lamine Yamal had a good and bad time with Mendy. And Lewandowski didn’t miss a beat against Rüdiger.
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Three of them scored all four goals at the Bernabéu, even if that day it was Lunin who defended the white goal. Together they capitalized on Barcelona’s overall play to turn the score around in Yida.
Starting with Lamine, who took advantage of a pass from Lewandowski, evaded Tchouaméni, moved towards the center and delicately put the ball into the net with a fake worthy of Messi. That was his eighth goal of the campaign, one more than all of last season. A crucial shot, dedicated to the stands, mostly populated by Madrid fans, and only the prelude to the storm. Because Lewandowski didn’t hesitate, taking the penalty with power and without any hesitation. The striker has now scored the same number of goals as he did in the entire previous campaign.
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All that was left was for Raphinha to join the party with a stratospheric leap and an acrobatic, unstoppable header. The winger then assisted Balde for Barcelona’s fourth goal, capping a counterattack led by Lamine Yamal.
Mirror of the team, Raphinha was not satisfied and gave himself a fifth goal, his second of the match, after performing an orbit around Tchouaméni, easily evading Rüdiger to beat Courtois. 19 goals for the Brazilian in what could be the season of his life.
From above, from below, through the centre, from the flanks, with five goals in 36 minutes. A symphony interrupted by the red card shown to Wojciech Szczesny, who literally put his foot in it. The red resulted in the substitution of Lamine Yamal, and with one man down, Barcelona’s attacking threat was stifled. Now they had to run even more, without the ball, and Raphinha, with cramps in both legs, was also replaced.
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By then, the Barcelona captain had already made his mark. In the Olmo case, he questioned whether any player wanted to come to Barça in these conditions on the pitch. Raphinha demonstrated, as usual, that he is a player fully committed to the cause. The first to row back and forth. A striker who wears the armband as if it were his own and who received a yellow card for protesting while sitting on the bench.
At the beginning of the season, only Lamine Yamal was not a suspect. At this point in the campaign, Raphinha and Lewandowski have catapulted themselves as key players. All three drove a movie-like 36 minutes. A legendary hand.
