Fermín López's Redemption and Raphinha's Transformation at Sánchez Pizjuán

At the final whistle at the Sánchez Pizjuán, Fermín López didn’t just look relieved. He looked restored.

The La Masia product, back on familiar Andalusian soil not far from his hometown of El Campillo, walked off with three points in his pocket and something even bigger on the way: a return to the Spain squad. Luis de la Fuente has recalled the 23-year-old for the upcoming Nations League fixtures, a call-up that lands like a personal redemption arc after injury robbed him of a place at the 2026 World Cup earlier in the summer.

He didn’t try to dress it up. The last few months have hurt.

"I am very happy to return to the national team. It was very hard not to go to the World Cup. I have started the season well and I am happy to return to the national team," Fermín said, the repetition underlining just how much this means to him.

But on this night, the spotlight inevitably drifted elsewhere. It had to. Raphinha owned the Sánchez Pizjuán.

The Brazilian’s ruthless hat-trick shredded Sevilla’s back line and underlined a transformation that has quietly become one of the stories of the early season. Under Hansi Flick, Raphinha is no longer glued to the touchline, chalk on his boots and crosses on his mind. He is stepping inside, living in central pockets, attacking the box like a striker.

The numbers tell you why nobody is arguing with the experiment: 12 goals in seven matches. That’s not a purple patch. That’s Pichichi pace.

Fermín, operating just behind and around him, sees the shift up close.

"Raphinha is our unexpected number nine. It’s tremendous what Raphinha is doing. He is very good and he adapts to any position. We give him the passes and he scores the goals. He had never played as a center forward and he is putting up very good numbers,” he noted.

The description fits the performance. Raphinha moved like a player who has worn the No. 9 all his life, timing his runs, finishing with cold precision, dragging Sevilla’s centre-backs into uncomfortable spaces. Every time Barcelona broke the first line of pressure, there he was, between the posts, a winger in name only.

And that pressure was real. Sevilla at home is never a gentle evening.

“Sevilla puts a lot of pressure on us here at their stadium, and Raphinha’s three goals have been decisive. The manager asks us to be very intense, to press high after losing possession,” Fermín explained.

That last line goes to the heart of Flick’s blueprint. Lose the ball, hunt it back instantly. Do it high, do it together, and do it for 90 minutes. At the Sánchez Pizjuán, where the stands lean over the pitch and every duel feels amplified, that demand becomes a test of nerve as much as legs.

Barcelona met it. They bent at times under Sevilla’s surge, but they did not break, and every regained ball seemed to find its way towards the Brazilian in the middle, the “unexpected number nine” turning a tactical tweak into a lethal weapon.

For Fermín, the night wrapped two stories into one: a personal return to Spain colours and a front-row seat to a teammate reinventing himself in real time. If this is how Barcelona’s intensity and Raphinha’s new role look in September, the question now is how far that combination can carry them when the season’s real storms arrive.