Raphinha emulates Lionel Messi in the Champions League

Raphinha has had an outrageous season with Barcelona, amassing 27 goals and 18 assists across all competitions in 45 appearances. And it is in the Champions League that he has especially thrived.

During Barcelona’s 4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, Raphinha continued his excellent Champions League with one goal and two assists. And that has taken him on to 12 goals and seven assists in the competition, as he leads both the goalscoring and assist charts.

And this total of 19 goal contributions has him chasing down the record in the Champions League, which is held by Cristiano Ronaldo (22 G/A). He is already the Brazilian player with the most goal contributions in a single campaign in the competition, and on Wednesday, he drew level with Lionel Messi’s best individual season, as per Diario AS.

Back in the 2011-12 season, Messi amassed 14 goals and five assists for Barcelona in the Champions League, and that total of 19 goal contributions has now been matched by Raphinha, who will hope to go past the Argentine icon when the Catalan side face Borussia Dortmund in next Tuesday’s return leg.

It has been a very special season from Raphinha up until this stage, and as things stand, he is many people’s favourite to win the 2025 Ballon d’Or, which will be handed out by France Football later in the year. And given his numbers, it would be no surprise to see him right up there, especially if Barcelona were to end the season with success in La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.

Raphinha is unlikely to be thinking about personal records at this stage, as his focus will be on ensuring that Barcelona have a very successful end to the season.