UEFA Champions League: How Hansi Flick unlocked Raphinha at Barcelona, and built the best attack in European football – Eurosport

It’s crazy what can happen when you feel wanted.

It doesn’t matter what area of your life it’s in – feeling wanted can give you a boost like no other. Just ask Raphinha.

Instead, his dream turned into a nightmare. For most of 2024, Raphinha was being heavily linked with a return to England, first in January and then for a large chunk of the summer window.

Part of it wasn’t his fault. Barcelona’s need to sell is widely known and after Frenkie de Jong’s injury in April scuppered any potential move, he became the club’s most sellable asset.

And it wasn’t just the club that wanted him out – the fans did too. Raphinha was one of those who regularly came in for criticism.

Except for the second-half of his debut season after the 2022 World Cup, Raphinha had never been able to put together a consistent run of form.

That was partly down to injury and partly down to the general malaise that surrounded the team during Xavi’s last season in Catalonia.

The statistics themselves actually look okay: 14 goal contributions (seven goals and seven assists) in La Liga in his first season, and 15 (six goals and nine assists) in the second.

But in both seasons, he was used off the bench 11 times, starting just 42 games out of a possible 76.

Part of the problem was that last season, Lamine Yamal emerged as first an exciting young prospect that demanded minutes, and then became arguably the team’s most important player and virtually undroppable.

As the club courted Nico Williams, it seemed clear that there was no room at the inn for Raphinha.

But he didn’t leave. He stayed, despite knowing that he could not play in what has been his preferred position through his career (right forward). He was willing to fight, and what’s more, he was made a captain.

Like a lot of European clubs, Barca have a senior leadership made up of five captains. However, unlike their arch-rivals over in Madrid, the captains are not chosen based on tenure, they are voted on.

This season, Raphinha received the fourth-highest tally of votes. This isn’t purely ceremonial, with the three players in front of him – Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Ronald Araujo and De Jong – all injured, he has been outright captain on a regular basis.

He said: “I started the season with a different mentality, and I knew that playing in this club, I would have to adapt to playing in different positions.

“I am really happy about how things are going. If before I was working at 100%, now it’s 200%. I want to give my best for the club.

“It’s a source of great pride to wear the armband, not just on the field but off it and in the dressing room. Listening to everyone, helping everyone as much as I can.

“I am always ready for my team-mates and it’s a happy, emotional thing to be captain.”

It sounds like a small thing, but there is every chance for that Raphinha, it was everything.

Raphinha revealed: “Man, there were several moments, not just one [when I considered leaving].

“There was a lot of self-doubt. I have a nasty habit of criticising myself heavily, so to speak, so that pressure made me think about leaving. Then, obviously, after the World Cup I had a huge turnaround, managing to put up great numbers in six months.

“Last season, after the injuries I had, the sending off [against Getafe in the opening game], and also at the end of the season, seeing a lot of things that the club wanted to sell me, that the fans wanted me to leave, it also ends up crossing your mind to leave, to go somewhere where there’s no pressure.

“But football is no fun without pressure, football has to have a little pressure. I’ve always dreamed of playing for big clubs, playing big games for the national team, and you can’t realise those dreams without pressure, the pressure comes with it.”

As we enter the stretch run before the winter break, it’s clear that under new manager Hansi Flick, Raphinha is completely reborn.

Across La Liga and the Champions League, he already has 11 goals and seven assists (bettering either of his previous two season tallies). He is now the one that can’t be dropped.

And the way he has done it is particularly fascinating, and is another area to consider along with the captaincy as a reason for the rebirth.

With Flick understanding that the right is locked down by Yamal, he has moved Raphinha around, like a queen in chess.

In games against smaller teams, he often plays Raphinha as the No. 10, relying on the Brazilian’s pace and movement to unlock stubborn defences.

In bigger games, such as against Bayern and Madrid, he has gone out wide, often trying to act as the forgotten man as opponents focus on Yamal and Robert Lewandowski.

Now not all of this is tactical, some of it was forced because marquee summer signing Dani Olmo was injured. When Olmo was fit, he naturally played the No. 10 role in Flick’s 4-2-3-1, and with him out, Raphinha has come inside on a more regular basis.

That pattern of play is a sign that Flick knows how valuable Raphinha’s runs can be in how his team breaks down their opponents.

That intelligent movement combined with his exceptional work-rate was best showcased in the thumping 4-1 win over Bayern Munich in the most recent Champions League games, a real statement win that saw Raphinha score a hat-trick.

But the first clip to demonstrate his brilliance isn’t one of the three goals. It comes in the middle of the first half after Bayern have just equalised through Harry Kane.

The ball is with Raphael Gurreiro, who is playing as a makeshift right-back. He plays the ball back to Dayot Upamecano who, under a bit of pressure, plays the ball further back to goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The legendary Bayern goalkeeper takes an errant touch as he is pressured more and gets tackled, with the ball – fortunately for the Bundesliga giants – going wide of the goal.

All clips only available to view in the UK:

Who is leading the press? Raphinha, coming off the left and basically acting as the central striking pressure point.

Lewandowski is deeper and it is Alex Balde on the left who is covering that flank. Now remember that as we break down each of Barcelona’s four goals.

The first goal comes within the first minute when Bayern’s defence parts like the Red Sea, and suddenly Upamecano and Joshua Kimmich (who wasn’t playing centre-back) find themselves as the deepest players.

No. 10 Fermin Lopez is given the space to turn and play the ball through to the striker, who runs away from the two Bayern players, rounds Neuer and scores.

Except, wait, that isn’t Lewandowski. It’s our friend, Raphinha.

The second goal comes as Yamal chips a ball from deep over the top and Lopez breaks away, courtesy of what looks like a push on Kim Min-jae.

He then gets fouled by Neuer but Lewandowski is there to tap home into an open net. He didn’t have a role in this goal but look at where Raphinha is – effectively a right-sided No. 8.

Then we can lump the third and fourth goals together because they are very similar. Raphinha is way back out on the left now, not quite hugging the touchline but clearly over on the other side.

For his second goal, he faces up to Guerreiro, beats him and then curls a beauty into the far corner with his weak foot.

With the final goal, for some reason Kim and Upamecano have both followed him over to Barca’s left flank, leaving a massive gap that a quicker striker could have exploited, but meaning that Raphinha was in a two-versus-one situation.

Not to worry. With a good touch and a burst of pace, he gets away from both of them and as they try to push him away from goal, he shoots far earlier than expected and catches Neuer cold.

Positional fluidity is not a new thing by any stretch, but it is utterly fascinating how a slight loosening of the shackles has seen a complete transformation in Raphinha.

Perhaps it is particularly instructive in a left-footed right-winger like Raphinha, who, like most players in his mould, was relatively predictable at various points in his career.

The way Flick is now moving Raphinha around and the license he has to drift from the left has perfectly complemented Lewandowski and Yamal, forming a devastating attacking trident.

As with so many things in life, our explanations are so often murky and complicated. There is almost certainly more than one reason that Raphinha is playing at this level.

Be it the captaincy, the arrival of Flick and his ideas, or even just a fire within that he ignited, it all adds up.

One thing the Brazilian does represent is a classic case of why writing off elite level footballers is such a nonsensical thing to do. You never know when they are going to start making you look really, really silly.