We aren’t talking enough about the sheer intelligence and movement leading up to Raphinha's crucial first goal. We all saw the finish, but if you rewatch the buildup, it is a masterclass in elite off-the-ball play.
The Anticipation The instant Lamine Yamal collects the ball and turns, Raphinha starts his sprint. He doesn’t wait to see what Lamine does. He anticipates the play and immediately seeks the space. It is a brilliant split-second decision.
The Feints The feints!! Running towards the box, his movement is devastating. He steers left, then right, then shifts left, and steers right again. He manipulates the defense until the defender loses his balance and falls over because of the sheer unpredictability of the run. Absolute destruction.
The Decoy Raphinha makes a first touch and realizes he is covered. He intelligently leaves the ball when Fermín rushes in to take over.
The Vision He creates an empty space for himself while the defense is trying to rush and cover. His spatial awareness here is top tier.
The Clinical Finish When he gets the ball back, he doesn’t rush it. He waits and shoots precisely into that unreachable zone. It’s a finish of pure composure and class.
He has elite tactical intelligence. What a player!
by vivxik
14 Comments
HELL YESS, Raphina in the first leg created a few chances like this but there were a group of haters saying he ghosted and created nothing. NOW THEY KNOW, my boy rapha was NEVER GONE💙❤. His positioning is soo goodddd
I feel safe when our original front three plays. Yes even when lewa is underperforming massively.
He literally made that space his own, he took 3 good scans off the ball while he made a blind-side run behind hall. Hall assumed Rapha was moving inside (unaware of the huge space behind him) and took a single scan. A single change in movement was enough to put hall off balance.
Raphinha can do it all; run into space, drag defenders to create space for others & finish chances.
The rotation from Raphinha was key for the 4th.
RB was watching cancelo whilst the LB was on lamine. Lewy came deep bringing the CB with him.
Raphinha moved central to occupy the spare CB leaving space for fermin to burst through, and then he played the brilliant first time pass too.
He was amazing. Full beast Raphinha is back.
And honestly having Lewa really helps take pressure of the other attackers even if he isn’t preforming at his best.
Because at the end of the day Lewa is Lewa, and no one is leaving him unmarked
Don’t forget the touch, his touch is one of the best I’ve seen, especially when the ball comes at him at pace
He’s the most efficient attacker we have- wastes no time and spaces – takes shots creates chances Whenever he can, and elite positioning –
I just wish we had one more player alongside them uptop who could move like that- a possible 9 with all the instincts, press and the aerial advantage.
the opponent would be cooked before the game even starts
legend
I would love to see Raphinha play as a #9
Yeah I noticed that immediately. his run was so good he made the opposing defender fall over. It almost looked like a wide receivers route in football
We can see all of this beautifully from Raphinha. But all of this happens and makes the play possible:
Fermin does an amazing sprint, and drags Tonali to followh him, then thankfully #3 slips and Tonali has to go for raphinha, leaving Fermín alone. Tonali has to choose between both when raphinha smartly gives him the ball and Fermín again gives the ball back leaving raphinha in a better position.
Lewy does his sprint and also drags the defenders. With Fermin and Lewy and RAphinha dragging deffenders, Lamine get´s a HUGE space in the middle to operate and to think for the next pass. When he sees the defender slipping, he immediately attacks there.
It´s just all round coordination and high ball IQ by all of our attackers. Gorgeous stuff.
It is absolutely a team game, no denial. But I just love our Boy Raphina