Barcelona in-form captain equals record held by club icons Rivaldo and Neymar

Raphinha turns 28 today and the Barcelona star surely has no shortage of reasons to celebrate, having emerged as one of the club’s best performers this season.

With a total of 17 goals and 10 assists, Raphinha has been one of Europe’s best-performing attackers.

And to mark his 28th birthday, Barcelona have reminded everyone (h/t Mundo Deportivo) that Raphinha has recently equalled a record held by the likes of Rivaldo and Neymar.

Raphinha’s newest record

In the calendar year of 2024, Raphinha has been involved in 12 Champions League goals for Barcelona this season.

Nine of them have come in the ongoing campaign, with the forward notably scoring against the likes of Bayern Munich, Young Boys, Red Star and most recently, Borussia Dortmund.

The goal against Dortmund took his tally to 12, which marks the highest number of UCL goals a Brazilian has been involved in across a calendar year – equalling a record held by Neymar, Rivaldo and Vinicius Jr., among others.

Rivaldo was the first player to achieve this mark in 2000, netting 11 goals and one assist. The following year, Giovane Elber racked up similar numbers for Bayern Munich.

Their records remained until Neymar came along, scoring nine goals and mustering three assists for Barcelona in 2015.

The Brazilian equalled the record again for PSG In 2017 with eight goals and four assists.

Now, there have been two more entrants on this list: Vinicius Jr. and Raphinha, with both players being involved in 12 Champions League goals this calendar year.