Carnage at Camp Nou! Raphinha Fires a Hat-trick + Barça Crush for Seven, Seven Straight Wins Rewrite Best-Ever Opening Record
On a Wednesday night, Barcelona hosted at Camp Nou and comprehensively dismantled Racing Santander 7-2. The emphatic victory not only extended Barça's season winning streak to seven straight, but also broke the club's all-time best opening record since its founding. With this win, the Blaugrana reasserted their three-point lead over Real Madrid in the La Liga standings, with control of the table once again returning to their grasp.
Raphinha was unquestionably the man of the match — he netted three goals in a single outing, two of which came from the penalty spot, utterly dominating Camp Nou with his hat-trick. Thanks to his dazzling display, Barça were already ahead 4-1 at the half after just 45 minutes. Additionally, João Cancelo unleashed a thunderous long-range strike from approximately 25 yards out to first ignite the delirium at Camp Nou; another Portuguese player, Aspuruquieta, had his long-range effort deflect off the body of Asier Villalibre and into the net, ruling it an own goal. Gabriel Jesus and Lamine Yamal also contributed their shares, with Yamal wasting a penalty opportunity in the first half, but together they assembled this thoroughly entertaining victory.
From the Santander side, Maguette Gaye and Yasser Zabiri each scored once, barely salvaging a shred of pride for the visitors, but they were completely powerless against Barça's relentless onslaught. So far this season, Barça have already scored 33 goals, approaching five goals per game — a firepower that can only be described as terrifying.
The match pace was astonishingly fast from the very first second: just 20 seconds into kickoff, Yamal created a danger, followed by Dani Olmo's shot grazing the post. Shortly after, Cancelo's powerful long-range strike struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the net, breaking the deadlock. Karim Adeyemi then found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but couldn't get past Jurren Agirrezabala; Olmo's chip after receiving a sublime outside-of-the-right-foot pass from Yamal also missed wide. Shortly after, Raphinha was brought down in the box by Pedro Felipe — who clipped the Brazilian winger's ankle but was shown only a yellow card. Raphinha stepped up to take the penalty himself, deceiving Agirrezabala's dive direction and calmly slotting it into the net.
Santander seized their first scoring opportunity of the season in the 30th minute to pull one back: Gaye calmly slotted home following a fluid sequence of short passes. However, Barça quickly steadied themselves — in the 36th minute, Cancelo's long-range effort from 30 yards once again struck Villalibre and deflected into the net, extending the lead to two goals. Santander then committed a fatal passing error in midfield, allowing Rodri to get a shot off; Adeyemi and Olmo created space through their movement and runs, setting up Raphinha to slot the ball into the far corner. Afterwards, Felipe fouled Adeyemi again, winning a second penalty. Barça opted for a change of taker — Yamal stepped up to the spot, but his strike lacked conviction and was easily parried away by Agirrezabala.
Resuming after the break, Yamal struck the post without converting. Then goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny hesitated while holding the ball, and Zabiri astutely pounced on the opportunity in the 65th minute to give Santander another goal. Barça were awarded a third penalty almost immediately — Iker Lucic fouled Adeyemi — and this time Raphinha buried it without fuss to complete his hat-trick. With 11 minutes remaining, Yamal used his exquisite ball control and balance to find Jesus, who elegantly guided the ball into the net. But Barça's attacking onslaught was far from over — Adeyemi effortlessly broke past the exhausted Santander defense and laid off to Yamal for the finishing touch, serving as a fitting reward for his outstanding performance throughout the match.