Barcelona's Perfect Start: Raphinha's Hat-Trick Sinks Sevilla

Barcelona had to suffer first. Then they turned it into a statement.

Sevilla struck the opening blow on Saturday, silencing the home crowd and briefly threatening to derail Barça’s flawless start to the season. The response was ruthless. A Raphinha hat-trick flipped the game on its head and sealed a 3-1 win that keeps Hansi Flick’s side perfect.

In the middle of it all, Rodri walked off the pitch beaming.

The midfielder, one of the central figures in Flick’s new-look Barça, picked out three names when he faced the media after the final whistle.

“For me, today Rapha was outstanding, Lamine was also very good, and Adeyemi, I really liked how he came on in the second half,” he said, underlining the blend of established quality and fresh energy that powered the comeback.

Raphinha’s treble did the damage on the scoreboard, but the performance around him mattered just as much to Rodri. Lamine Yamal’s directness and invention stretched Sevilla, while Adeyemi’s entrance after the break injected pace and aggression against a tiring back line.

Rodri’s message, though, went beyond one night.

“We’re not going to lose our rhythm, we’re going to keep competing. We need to keep in mind that these are important matches and come back in the best possible shape,” the Spain international insisted, already looking towards the next block of games rather than lingering on the perfect start.

There was also a word for one of the less heralded contributors. Andreas Christensen’s injury forced a defensive reshuffle, and Gerard Martín was thrown into the action.

“Gerard Martín has been sensational. Such a shame about Christensen’s injury,” Rodri said, acknowledging both the blow to the back line and the composure of the replacement.

If Rodri was busy praising others, his coach was not about to let his own influence slide under the radar.

“Rodri is a great player, both with and without the ball. He controls everything and gives us composure in our positional play. I think he connects well with Pedri and the center-backs. Overall, I think we can be happy with what we did,” Hansi Flick said, highlighting the midfielder’s role as the team’s metronome in and out of possession.

Control, connection, composure. Those are the themes of Barça’s early-season surge, and Rodri sits at the heart of all three.

Now comes a pause. Barcelona head into a short break with momentum, confidence and a spotless record. They return on October 10th against Getafe, with one obvious challenge in front of them: can they keep this rhythm when the season really starts to bite?