CORNERFLICK
Raphinha has made the fastest Barcelona scoring start to a La Liga season seen at the club since Lionel Messi. The Brazilian has scored in all four league matches this term and has six goals after four rounds.
Messi comparison
He opened with two against Elche, scored once at Athletic Bilbao, struck twice against Rayo Vallecano and found the net again in the 5-0 win over Valencia. That puts him alongside Messi as the only player in the 21st century to reach six goals in Barcelona's first four La Liga matches.
Messi did it in back-to-back seasons. He reached six goals in his first four league appearances in 2012/13 and again in 2013/14, when he missed the second-round game against Málaga.
Club record chase
Barcelona also say Raphinha is only the sixth player in their history to score in each of the opening four league games of a season. The others were César Rodríguez, Ladislao Kubala, Cayetano Re, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Cesc Fàbregas.
César Rodríguez in 1950/51 and Ibrahimović in 2009/10 stretched that run to five matches. Raphinha now has a chance to join them in Barcelona's next league fixture.