Barcelona Crush Racing Santander 7-2 as Raphinha Hits Hat-Trick

BARCELONA — Atlético Madrid moved into third place in La Liga on Wednesday after defeating Osasuna 4-0 at the Metropolitano Stadium. Diego Simeone’s squad now sits five points behind Barcelona.

Barcelona’s victory over Racing Santander extended its lead at the top of La Liga to three points. The 7-2 result at Camp Nou gave Barcelona 21 points from seven matches, while the club’s season goal total reached 33 across all competitions.

The result also made Hansi Flick the first manager in Barcelona’s 125-year history to win his first seven competitive matches in charge. Flick assumed the managerial post in May 2024 following the departure of Xavi Hernández. Before arriving in Catalonia, he guided Bayern Munich to a European sextuple during the 2019–20 season and managed the German national team from 2021 to 2023.

Barcelona began the match with long-range striking and set-piece conversions. In the eighth minute, full-back João Cancelo drove a long-distance strike off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. Racing defender Pedro Felipe then brought down Raphinha inside the penalty box, and Raphinha converted the resulting spot-kick to make it 2-0.

Maguette Gueye briefly reduced Racing Santander’s deficit to 2-1. Cancelo later produced another long-range attempt that took a sharp deflection off Racing forward Asier Villalibre for an own goal, restoring Barcelona’s two-goal advantage.

Dani Olmo set up Raphinha before halftime, with Raphinha playing in a central attacking role throughout the match. His second goal of the evening sent Barcelona into the break with a 4-1 lead.

Barcelona changed goalkeepers at halftime after starting goalkeeper Joan García suffered an apparent injury and was replaced by Wojciech Szczesny. Racing capitalized on an early second-half mistake from Szczesny, as Yassir Zabiri seized on a handling error to pull the visitors within two goals at 4-2.

Karim Adeyemi was fouled in the Racing penalty area soon afterward, earning Barcelona its second spot-kick of the match. Raphinha converted to complete his hat-trick and bring his La Liga goal tally to nine for the season. Under Flick’s attacking structure, Barcelona has averaged 4.71 goals per game through its opening seven fixtures.

The hosts added two late goals. Lamine Yamal assisted Gabriel Jesus for Barcelona’s sixth goal, then finished a chance created by Adeyemi to complete the 7-2 rout.

| Team | Score | Scorers |
| :— | :— | :— |
| **Barcelona** | 7 | Cancelo, Raphinha (3), Jesus, Yamal, Villalibre (og) |
| **Racing Santander** | 2 | Gueye, Zabiri |