The man who seems to be in perpetual motion, a footballer forever on fast forward, pauses, goes quiet for a moment and then, softly, utters something that says so much: “I think maybe people saw in me something I didn’t realise was there.” He did not know he was a leader, but he likes it. He did not know he was a captain, but according to his manager he is the “perfect captain”. And he did not know he was a No 9 either, but right now he is the best No 9 there is.
In Barcelona or anywhere. There was a time when Raphinha did not know whether he would be in Barcelona, when, feeling unwanted, he had accepted it was over, but this week he extended his contract to 2030. He will be 33 then: he would like to retire here and they would like him to retire here, too, a legend built on empathy and affection.
Sometimes you cannot get what you want so you have to settle for the best. The first word Raphinha uses when training has finished and the tape starts rolling at Sant Joan Despí, when he is addressed as the world’s top No 9, is “false”. It comes with a smile; turns out there is nothing false about this 9.
Seven games into the league season, the man filling in at centre-forward has scored 12 goals, plus two in the Champions League. The scorers leading the way in Europe’s other top leagues are five behind. No one in Barcelona’s history has started a season like this.
And, no, Raphinha says, he has never played there before: “Even as a kid I wasn’t a 9.” As if it is even about the goals. There may be no one as enjoyable to watch as Raphinha; no one as admirable or important either. The touch at speed is astonishing and there is a wild intensity about everything he does, only it is not wild, he says; it is worked upon, the entire system depending on him.
The press defines Barcelona’s identity and it is, Raphinha says, “mechanised”. No, he is not going to reveal how but it begins with him. This summer Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford departed, having contributed 38 league goals between them last season.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
