Leeds United sold Raphinha to Barcelona back in the summer of 2022, and he’s now hitting form worthy of Ballon D’Or contention as he looks to win the Champions League.
Not effectively replacing Raphinha at Leeds was always going to lead to disaster, given he almost single-handedly dragged the Whites to survival in 21/22.
He earned himself a dream move to Barcelona in the summer of 2022, heading to the Camp Nou for a reported £55million fee and is now a favourite for the Catalan giants.
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Raphinha’s Barcelona one step closer to UCL progress with Benfica win
(Photo by Maciej Rogowski/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
Barcelona have already faced Benfica this season in the Champions League, on the right end of a stunning 5-4 win where Raphinha scored a dramatic late winner.
They met at the Estadio da Luz this week for a Round of 16 first leg, in which Barca were forced into a tough spot when centre-back Pau Cubarsi was sent off in the first half.
However, the La Liga side came out of the game with a huge win thanks to Raphinha latching onto a misplaced pass, before leathering a low shot from 25 yards into the bottom corner – an identical strike to his first-ever Leeds goal away at Everton:
In 40 appearances across all competitions this season, Raphinha now stands on a staggering 25 goals and 18 assists – also chasing down the UCL golden boot on nine goals and four assists in the competition, one off top spot.
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Leeds hoping for Barcelona glory for significant transfer add-ons
(Photo by Henrique Casinhas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Avoiding just the joy of seeing an ex-Leeds favourite do so well with his new club, Leeds have a vested interest in Raphinha doing the business for Barcelona this season.
At the time of leaving for the La Liga side, Marca reported that Leeds are in line for around €12million (£10million) if Barcelona win the Champions League while the Brazilian is on their books.
Barca are currently the top scorers in the competition, with Real Madrid just behind having had to play an extra two games in the playoff phase.
Raphinha taking Barcelona to the top this season, Leeds will be delighted
It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of Raphinha in a Leeds shirt, but he’s a world class winger and he was always going to the top with or without us.
At Barcelona, he’s finally exploded into the sort of goalscoring form that we all know he was capable of, and the Ballon D’Or is looking on the cards.
The hope for Leeds is that he ends up lifting the Champions League trophy at the end of May, giving us another big windfall.