Raphinha scored a hat-trick to lead Barcelona to a 3-1 win over host Sevilla, Saturday evening, in the seventh round of the Spanish league. The Brazilian raised his tally to 12 goals in 7 rounds, surpassing Lionel Messi's best tally at this stage of the season, while Barcelona continued its run of wins and held onto the top of the standings.
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According to Opta statistics, Messi had scored 11 goals after the seventh round of the 2017-2018 season. Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, reached 13 goals at the same stage of the 2014-2015 season, the highest tally of the 21st century, despite missing one match due to injury. Raphinha thus surpasses Messi's best start after 7 rounds, and trails Ronaldo's tally over the same span by just one goal.
A Hat-Trick That Turned Around Barcelona's Deficit
Youssef En-Nesyri opened the scoring for Sevilla in the 18th minute, but Raphinha equalized 4 minutes later. In the second half, he headed in a cross from Lamine Yamal to give Barcelona the lead in the 52nd minute, before receiving another pass from his teammate and scoring his third goal in the 69th minute. He left the pitch in the 76th minute after having sealed the result for his team, according to Reuters' report on the match.
This is Raphinha's second hat-trick in two consecutive rounds, having also scored 3 goals in Barcelona's 7-2 win over Racing Santander. The club had recorded 9 goals from him in the first 6 rounds, before he added his three goals against Sevilla.
Barcelona Extends Its Best Start in Club History
The win raised Barcelona's tally to 21 points from 7 matches in the league, and extended its winning streak to 8 matches across all competitions since the start of the season. The club had announced, following its seventh win, that the team had indeed achieved the best start in its history.
Barcelona now holds a temporary six-point lead over Real Madrid, who face Atlético Madrid on Sunday.
Resource: Al-Ghad.
