Messi's number repeats: Raphinha opens a door for himself in Barcelona's history
The Brazilian shines brightly
Raphinha Dias is on fire. The Brazilian struck Barcelona's third goal against Valencia at the Mestalla to reach six goals in his first four La Liga matches this season, joining club legend Lionel Messi on an exceptional list.
According to "Mundo Deportivo", Raphinha is only the second player this century to score six goals in his team's first four matches of a single La Liga season. Messi got there first, doing it twice with Barcelona.
Those two Messi hauls came in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014, six goals in the opening four games on each occasion. Years later, Raphinha has matched him, underlining a blistering attacking start with the Catalan side.
He opened the campaign with two goals against Elche, then found the net against Athletic Bilbao and grabbed another brace against Rayo Vallecano. His strike against Valencia took his tally to six and sole ownership of the top of the La Liga scoring charts, one goal clear of Rayo Vallecano striker Camello.
Matching Messi isn't the end of it. A new piece of history now sits within reach: scoring in a fifth straight match, something only César Rodríguez and Zlatan Ibrahimović have ever done for Barcelona in La Liga.
