Leeds United icon Raphinha captains Barcelona to 4-0 win over Real Madrid and opens El Clasico account

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A little over two years ago, Leeds United fans watched on in awe as Raphinha produced a sparkling display to keep The Whites in the Premier League away at Brentford.

Fast forward until now, and it is difficult to find many better players in world football right now than the Brazilian superstar. Harry Gray even recently described Raphinha as the “best in the world” currently.

The Brazil star scored a hat-trick against Bayern Munich in the week as Hansi Flick’s Barcelona continue to shine under the German’s leadership. On Saturday night, Barcelona went to the Santiago Bernabeu.

They might be the side in-form compared to Carlo Ancelotti’s men, but being away from home made the tie a tricky one to predict. But the result was anything but, with Barcelona cruising to a massive 4-0 win.

• READ MORE: Liam Cooper captained CSKA Sofia in just his fourth outing after Leeds exit

Raphinha captains Barcelona and opens El Clasico account

The 27-year-old is enjoying the best of his three seasons at Barcelona by a long way. Decent returns in his first two campaigns were followed by rumours Raphinha could move to Saudi Arabia for a massive £85m.

He stayed, and it is proving to be an inspired decision. Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s injury means Raphinha is wearing the armband. On Saturday, he lead his Barca side out at the Santiago Bernabeu against Madrid.

Not only did he captain his side to a 4-0 win, but Raphinha also laid on a goal and an assist. In his eighth outing against Ancelotti’s men, Raphinha finally opened his account for Barcelona’s fourth on the night.

Raphinha’s stats in numbers since joining Barcelona from Leeds

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring and got a second in quick succession, to put Barca 2-0 up. He could have had four, before Raphinha laid on Lamine Yamal to fire into the roof of the net for the third.

Then, Raphinha finished superbly with a little chip for his tenth of the season and his first against Real Madrid. Already this season, the former Sporting, Leeds and Rennes man has 19 goals and assists.

Erling Haaland is in a run of incredible form and it is easy to argue that he might be the world’s best at the moment, while Harry Kane has made a stunning start to 2024-25 at Bayern under Vincent Kompany.

But in world football right now, it is hard to look past Raphinha with Kylian Mbappe making a bit of an inconsistent start to the campaign since his move to Real Madrid. Pain and joy mixed, for Leeds fans.