Raphinha reached a landmark not achieved in the Spanish top flight for more than a decade, even though his goal could not prevent Barcelona losing 2-1 to Real Madrid in Sunday’s Clasico.
The Brazil forward scored Barcelona’s only goal at Camp Nou in the 10th round of the La Liga season. He restored parity in the 61st minute after Real Madrid had taken the lead, but Kylian Mbappe struck the decisive goal in the 87th minute to secure victory for the visitors.
According to Tribuna, Raphinha has become the first player since Cristiano Ronaldo to score 13 goals in the opening 10 rounds of a La Liga campaign.
Ronaldo reached an even higher total during the 2014-15 season, scoring 17 times in his first 10 league matches for Real Madrid. That exceptional start established a scoring benchmark which had not been matched for more than 10 years.
Raphinha’s prolific opening to the current season has now placed him alongside Ronaldo in the record books, although his individual achievement came on a night when Barcelona were beaten by their biggest rivals.
