Former Leeds United winger Raphinha barely needed 45 minutes to stand out in his unofficial Barcelona debut during his new team’s pre-season tour of the United States.
The Brazil international joined Barcelona this summer and started in their friendly duel against Inter Miami. Raphinha hit the ground running and set up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who opened the scoring for the Blaugrana 19 minutes in.
Combined with Ansu
Just a few minutes later, Raphinha made the most of Ansu Fati‘s precise cross to the far post to double Barcelona‘s lead with a first-time inside-right strike.
The Brazilian was also involved in Barcelona‘s third goal on the stroke of half-time. This time it was the talented winger who teed up Fati with four minutes to go before the break.
Raphinha shined on his debut and combined well with Barcelona youngsters Pedri and Fati. He offered to the team what they need from their winger, being vertical and causing trouble to the opposition defence.
Message to Real Madrid
Talking to the press after his Barcelona debut, Raphinha didn’t hesitate to send a message to Real Madrid ahead of the friendly Clasico between the two LaLiga Santander giants on Saturday.
“You always want to score against your opponents and if it’s in a Clasico, even more so,” he noted.
“The most important thing is the win. For me, we are better than Real Madrid.”
Marca
