Raphinha talks Flick, Olmo, red-hot form, Barcelona captaincy – ‘I’m in my best moment’ | OneFootball

One month into the new season, very few would have predicted that Raphinha would emerge as the top performer for Barcelona this season.

Indeed, the Brazilian has stepped up to the plate this season and how, racking up three goals and three assists in just four league matches.

Heading into an important encounter against Girona this weekend, Raphinha sat down with BarçaOne for an interview, where he talked about his brilliant start to the season while offering his thoughts on various other topics.

“I’m in my best moment so far here. I can still improve. and I think I can help the team a lot. We are very good. When you win the first 4 games, everything is easier,” said Raphinha, who is enjoying by far his best season at the club.

The Brazilian, in fact, is coming on the back of a stellar performance against Real Valladolid, where he racked up a memorable hat-trick as Barça won 7-0.

“The truth is that I was very happy with the hat-trick, it was my first hat-trick in my career. I give a lot of importance to numbers, but I don’t give a lot of importance to scoring hat-trick,” he said when asked about the Valladolid game.

Talking about his personal targets for the season, the forward added, “I have personal challenges, whether it’s assists, MOTM, or POTM. Well, I have some individual challenges, but at the end of the season I’ll tell you if I can do any of them or not.”

Raphinha also talked about the success of another attacker, Dani Olmo, who joined the club in the summer.

Raphinha is firing on all cylinders this season (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

“Dani Olmo has arrived, he is contributing a lot to us and of course we are contributing a lot. Olmo has arrived here and shown why Barcelona wanted him. He came wanting to help the team and the least we can do is help him adapt to the club and that’s all he needed,” he said.

One of the key drivers behind Raphinha’s early season success at Barcelona has been Hansi Flick, who has been able to get the best out of the former Leeds winger.

Raphinha himself deserves credit for adapting to Flick’s tactics quite early. Talking about his adaptation process, the forward said, “I knew that if I wanted to play and be the best version of myself I had to adapt as quickly as possible to the idea of ​​Flick.”

“The truth is that he doesn’t ask me for anything special on an individual level and I don’t think he does that with any player.

“What he asks is that we are a team and when we attack we all attack, when we press we all press, and when we have to defend we all defend. Only then will we win games,” he added.

Raphinha, meanwhile, also looked back at his early struggles at Barcelona, calling his first season a ‘process of adaptation’.

“The first season was a season of adaptation for me. It cost me a bit, especially the first six months before the World Cup. I ended up losing qualities that I had strongly, but football changes and we have to adapt as quickly as possible to everything that can happen.

“I knew that one-on-one was one of my best qualities but I also have other strengths that help me and contribute a lot to my game,” he said.

Earlier in the summer, Barcelona surprised many by naming Raphinha as one of the five captains of the team this season.

Talking about his captaincy, Raphinha said, “If I tell you I was expecting it, I’d be lying. This means that what I do internally.”

“Being a captain in the team is something special, but I think, in my opinion, Lewandowski can be a captain too, Kounde too. There are many players who can be leaders in the dressing room. I am very happy with this choice,” he added.

On being a leader, Raphinha said, “Being a team leader doesn’t just mean being one of the captains. Being a leader is being ready to help with whatever your teammates need and fighting for whatever the team needs both on and off the pitch.”

One of Barcelona’s captains, Raphinha is leading by example. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Raphinha went on to talk a bit about Barcelona as a club and how the team is shaping up to be a collective unit under Hansi Flick.

“This is a team and a family. I think we have to help each other. It’s good not only for the club but for us as players. We all have individual and collective challenges and I think we can only face the challenges at the end of the season if we help each other,” he said.

“We have a very good team. When you play with high-quality players and intelligent players, it becomes much easier for you.

“Being at Barcelona means you are betting on something. It’s not easy getting here. Once you get here, once you start playing and explaining why you’re here, things will go a lot easier,” he added.

Emphasising how it is important to live up to expectations, Raphinha also talked about winning each and every game as well as titles.

“My opinion is when you arrive at a club like this, with its greatness, your minimum objective should be to win everything.

“On an individual level, I think yes, we have to realise that by wearing this shirt we have to always keep in mind that we have to win and that we can beat any opponent and that we have to fight to win,” he said.

Finally, Raphinha offered a message to fans, vowing to help Barcelona maintain their excellent form throughout the course of the campaign.

“We know that fans are super excited about us, but we also know that the season has just started and we have to keep it up,” he said.