Barcelona star became first player since Lionel Messi to hit benchmark vs Red Star

Barcelona star Raphinha on Wednesday secured for himself a piece of recent Blaugrana history.

This came by way of the Brazilian international’s expolits in the club’s latest outing on the continent.

Barcelona are of course fresh off making it seven wins on the spin across all competitions, courtesy of a 5-2 downing of Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.

The aforementioned Raphinha for his part featured from the off in the clash, and went on to play a starring role once more.

Of the visitors’ five goals in Belgrade, the former Leeds United man played a direct hand in three, courtesy of a goal and two assists.

And, in the process, he joined Barcelona icon Lionel Messi in an exclusive club.

As revealed by BBC, Raphinha is the first Blaugrana player to net eight goals in the Champions League in a single calendar year since Argentine legend Messi, in 2019.

Conor Laird – GSFN