Raphinha produced another Champions League masterclass on Tuesday night as the Leeds United icon starred in a 4-0 Barcelona win over Borussia Dortmund in a quarter-final first leg.
Less than three years after leaving Elland Road in the summer of 2022, Raphinha could be about to win the Champions League in the same year that Leeds United are fighting to get out of the Championship.
Following his 29 goals and assists in 67 Leeds games across two seasons, Raphinha enjoyed two decent seasons at Barcelona in which he was a rotational option – but still managed another 45 goals and assists.
But this season, the Brazil star’s form has gone to a new level. Already, Raphinha has eclipsed the amount of goals and assists he produced in his first two season, just this term under Barcelona boss Hansi Flick.
Raphinha takes tally to 50 goals and assists and admits ‘dream’
On Wednesday night, Raphinha produced three goals and assists in the 4-0 win over Dortmund. The star opened the scoring before laying on an assist for both Robert Lewandowski and then Lamine Yamal.
A total of 28 goals and 22 assists, as Barcelona all but booked their place in the Champions League semi-finals. Raphinha told Thierry Henry on CBS that winning the Champions League is a dream of his.
Henry asked Raphinha: “What we saw with Leeds, the Ballon d’Or should be very much a potential prize if you continue playing the way you are.” Raphinha responded: “Thank you very much for your words.
“You have been speaking about me all this time, you are a person I appreciate greatly since I was little. My head is not thinking about the Ballon d’Or. I want to win everything I can for Barcelona,” Raphinha said.
“That’s the most-important thing for me. The goals that I have are to win titles and with titles, individual prizes will come. But the most-important thing for me is to win prizes with this shirt, which is my dream.”
Raphinha achieving dream will see Leeds United win £10m fee
It might be a dream for Raphinha, but it will be dreamy for Leeds’ financial accounts. Indeed, reports from Spain claimed last month that if Barcelona win the Champions League, Leeds will receive a £10m fee.
A clause inserted into Raphinha’s contract and it is not as if Raphinha has not played his part in helping Barcelona achieve that, if they do go on and lift the biggest trophy in club football come May 31.
With Leeds’ financial accounts of 2023-24 posted earlier this month and Leeds making a £60m loss, an unexpected £10m payment will do nicely – especially, with spending likely to be big if Leeds go up.
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