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raphinha - ballon dor - kooora onlykooora
Ahmed Abdelhamid
Translated by

A beast from another era: Raphinha primed for revenge on the shoulders of Messi and Ronaldo

FEATURES
Ballon d'Or
Raphinha
C. Ronaldo
L. Messi
Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid
LaLiga
Sevilla vs Barcelona
Sevilla
Barcelona
Brazil
Portugal
Argentina
Spain

Will the Brazilian turn back the hands of the clock?

Everyone thought the era of impossible numbers had died with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Figures like 48 or 50 goals in a single season? A thing of the past.

Raphinha decided to reopen the file in a way no one saw coming.


Twelve goals in his first seven matches. That number drops the Brazilian into territory reserved for the game's giants and puts him on the trail of Ronaldo and Messi from the opening weeks of the season.

Here's the irony. This goalscoring explosion arrived just as he suffered a major shock, left off the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or.

Raphinha refused to be drawn into a war of words. He needed no fiery statements. Instead he picked the cruellest reply of all: goals.

Now, having turned into a beast that devours La Liga defences, the question writes itself. Can Raphinha drag the Messi and Ronaldo era back into the competition and knock on the door of a number that seemed impossible for years?

  • A number that does not belong to this era

    The numbers tell Raphinha's story on their own. The Brazilian has scored 12 goals in his first 7 La Liga matches, an average of 1.71 per game.

    Line that up against the best starts posted by Messi and Ronaldo this century to grasp its magnitude.

    Cristiano Ronaldo scored 13 goals in his first 7 matches with Real Madrid during the 2014-2015 season, while Messi scored 11 goals in the same number of matches during the 2017-2018 season.

    Raphinha, then, isn't chasing ordinary numbers. He has opened his season like the men who turned La Liga's record books into personal property.

    Do the simple sums and the madness of the start looks even wilder.

    Keep an average of 1.71 goals per game across all 38 rounds and Raphinha would theoretically reach 65 goals.

    That's no prediction for how the season will finish, of course. But the calculation lays bare just how blistering his rate has been.

    You can discuss topics and news in greater depth in the "Kooora" forums

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  • Messi and Ronaldo summit

    Before Raphinha dreams of the record, he must look to the summit built by Messi and Ronaldo.

    Lionel Messi scored 50 goals in La Liga in the 2011-2012 season, the record for the most goals in a single season in the competition's history. Cristiano Ronaldo comes next, with 48 for Real Madrid in 2014-2015.

    Here lies the irony. Both figures belong to an era that vanished from La Liga the moment their creators walked away.

    Ever since, the 40-goal barrier has become a rarity. As for 50, that number now feels detached from the reality of the competition.

    Raphinha, though, has revived talk of this forbidden territory.

    He does not need to keep up a rate of 12 goals every seven matches to break Messi's record. To reach 51, he needs 39 more after his current 12, spread across the remaining 31 matches. That works out at 1.26 goals per game.

  • Suárez, Mbappé and Lewandowski: the gap is huge

    Even the top scorers who followed Messi and Ronaldo could not recapture the madness of that era.

    Luis Suarez lit up the 2015-2016 campaign with Barcelona, banging in 40 La Liga goals for his highest-ever tally in the competition.

    Kylian Mbappe hit 31 goals in 2024-2025 with Real Madrid. He then claimed the top-scorer crown again the following season with 25.

    Robert Lewandowski peaked in 2022-2023, when he scored 23 goals in La Liga.

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  • The greatest revenge: from the list of 30 to the Ballon d'Or dream

    This is precisely where the story becomes more intriguing.

    Raphinha was one of the biggest names snubbed from the 30-man Ballon d'Or shortlist, despite finishing fifth in the previous edition.

    He refused to get drawn into a long debate over whether he deserved a place. His response came on the pitch: 12 goals in 7 matches.

    Those aren't simply the numbers of a player who has started the season well. They mark the beginning of an exceptional run that could carry him well beyond a return to the shortlist for the 2027 Ballon d'Or. The Brazilian could end up winning the award itself.

    Whether the omission has genuinely become extra fuel is impossible to know, but everything happening on the pitch gives the revenge story all its elements.

    Messi and Ronaldo have left La Liga, and with them departed scoring rates we no longer see so easily. Yet after just 7 matches, Raphinha has posed a question no one expected: what if time were to turn back?

    So far, the answer isn't in the statements nor in the nominations. It's at Raphinha's feet.