A few months ago, concerns about Barcelona's center forward began to envelop captain Hansi Flick. Robert Lewandowski is too old to meet much professional expectations. After that, the Polish striker also chose the next direction in his career with the US MLS league.
Ferran Torres is someone who can play as a center forward, but in the Camp Nou team's colors, he has never shown enough ability to meet the absolute trust from Flick. Last season, Torres still scored many goals but was not stable in form, especially often silent in big matches. In August, he also left to move to PSG and is playing very well in his new shirt.
Barcelona once pursued the deal for Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid, but the Madrid team resolutely refused to sell. There was a time when Barca's coaching staff was immersed in worrying about not having a quality center forward in time to start the new season. However, all those concerns have been resolved with Raphinha.
There were many opinions last season about letting Raphinha play center forward, but Hansi Flick was still very cautious. However, when in a situation where no one had enough expertise, the German coach used Raphinha and the result returned was completely deserved.
The double against Feyenoord in the 5-1 victory in the opening match of the Champions League last Wednesday night increased the total number of goals scored by the Brazilian striker from the beginning of the season to 8 in just the first 5 matches of the season. Raphinha's scoring style in that victory was very diverse. Those were cross-court situations and good positioning to break the opponent's defense system.
Not only choosing a good position to score, Raphinha also participates in the common play very enthusiastically. He almost presses full-time on 1/3 of the opponent's field and is very willing to retreat to support defense. Gradually through the early matches of the season, Barcelona fans are having the view that perhaps the center forward is the position suitable for Raphinha, not a winger as before.
Raphinha's journey to become a center forward also had many unexpected turns. When he first moved from Leeds in 2022, Raphinha played on the right wing. By the beginning of 2024, he lost this role to Lamine Yamal and had to learn to play on the left wing. This process took a lot of time for the Brazilian striker and there were times when he was very close to leaving Camp Nou.
Last summer, Hansi Flick tested Raphinha as a center forward. He told his student this after the post-World Cup break ended. This is a position Raphinha never thought he would stick with for a long time in his career. When officially operating, both coaches and players found it to be the right thing to do.
Last week, the shortlist of the Top 30 Golden Ball winners was announced and among them were not Raphinha, Pedri was also absent. For Hansi Flick, this is very unfair to Barcelona's stars. The German coach himself also mentioned this issue at the press conference after the victory over Feyenoord.
