Raphinha Renaissance : How Hansi Flick style regenerated the Brazilian
Raphinha entered Barcelona Castle in the summer of 2022. Since he came in, he hasn’t lived up to the club’s expectations due to injury, the manager misusing him, and Barcelona's unstable situations on and off the pitch, which have impacted every person involved in the team.
The club went through a cloudy and blurry season last year as Barcelona’s board couldn’t decide whether Xavi, the former manager, was staying or leaving the dugout. Ultimately, Xavi departed the action, and Hansi Flick assumed the responsibility of managing the Catalan club.
Everyone who watched Barcelona with Xavi and Bayern Munich with Hansi Flick could spot the difference between the two styles. The first is one of the advocates of El Juego de Posición and the second prefers to play all the time vertically. The German manager style suits Raphinha’s profile, as he is the type of player who always targets the net and keeps the ball in a vertical sense.
Link between defense and attack :
With Hansi Flick, Raphinha usually starts in the right inside channel, with the license to switch positions and operate near the touchline. His adept and infinite movements enable him to be a free option for his teammates to progress and bring the ball upfield. Adding to that, the new Barcelona coach established a system that suits Raphinha and magnifies his strengths. Usually, Barcelona constructs their attacks swinging between 4-3-3 and 3-2-5 shapes depending on whether it is a high or deep build-up.
Against Rayo Vallecano, Hansi Flick boys played with three cogs in the midfield, where Raphinha and Pedri took place in the right and left half-spaces, respectively, and Marc Bernal at the top of the triangle behind (below). On the other side, the opposition defended with a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 formation, which means Barcelona had the numerical advantage in the middle of the park.
Here, Isi Palazón jumps on Pau Cubarsí, leaving his man Marc Bernal unmarked. As a result, Óscar Valentín finds himself in a dilemma about whether he should keep following Raphinha or take care of Marc Bernal. Time and space are not on his side, so Raphinha takes advantage of the situation by dropping deep and exploiting the space between Óscar Valentín and Álvaro García. Pau Cubarsí picks out the Brazilian who will feed Lamine Yamal on the wing, which was the target since the beginning of the attack.
As aforementioned, Raphinha emerged as the linking point between the first and the last lines. Here, Marc Bernal drops back between Barcelona’s center-backs, who split wide, allowing the fullbacks to advance. Bernal plays the ball to Pau Cubarsí and sneaks behind Isi Palazón, who is traveling to press Barcelona's right center-back. During the process, Pedri came deep, dragging Unai López with him, with the opposite wingers keeping an eye on Barcelona’s fullbacks. Óscar Valentín leaves Raphinha behind him and jumps over Marc Bernal, who receives the ball, while Pedri slows down, creating separation between him and his man. The Brazilian, free down the inside channel, takes the pass from Pedri and switches the play to the left-back.
In another example against Valencia, Robert Lewandowski joined the crew on the left while Alejandro Balde was ready to pick out Raphinha with an out-swinging pass. The Brazilian narrowing inside forced Valencia's left-back to follow him, vacating the right flank. From one touch, Raphinha played the ball back to Lewandowski, who fed Lamine Yamal on the right wing. The latter cut inside and fired a shot, but got deflected to go outside.
Adept runs in behind :
What makes Raphinha look good at the start of the season is his astute runs behind backlines. That provided him with the opportunity to put his name on the scoresheet or to create one for his teammates. Against Real Valladolid, Raphinha scored his first hat trick and gave two assists from such movements.
Here, Valladolid set up in a 5-4-1 shape against Barcelona, 3-2-5 in possession. Robert Lewandowski drops deep toward Dani Olmo, which obliges the center-back to track him. That opens a lane for Raphinha to run, receive Pau Cubarsí's long pass, and slide the ball to the right of the goalkeeper.
Raphinha's third goal against Real Valladolid came from similar movements. Barcelona went on a counterattack after a corner from Valladolid. Lamine Yamal progressed with the ball and Raphinha ran through the backline. Eray Cömert, Valladolid center-back, got trapped by Dani Olmo’s position, so he adjusted his body in case Yamal played the ball to Olmo. However, the seventeen-year-old glided a pass through to Raphinha. The latter flicked the ball between the goalkeeper’s legs.
Raphinha lives his honeymoon days in terms of scoring, assisting, and helping his teammates with his smart off-ball movements. Here, Fermin Lopéz comes to Balde’s side, which forces Luis Pérez and Chuki to jump over the pair, leaving ample space behind their backs. Raphinha immediately realizes the gap and changes his direction toward the free zone behind him. Alejandro Balde feeds the Brazilian down the wide channel, who plays the ball across goal. Ferran Torres puts it at the bottom left of the net.
In a similar situation, Fermin Lopéz drifted wide and generated separation by fainting Luis Pérez. Firstly, Raphinha shifted across to the left, and in an eye glimpse, he changed his direction and ran down the left half-space. Fermin Lopéz received the pass from Alejandro Balde and put it into Raphinha’s path. In the meantime, Robert Lewandowski ran at the defense to stretch the Valladolid lines vertically, allowing Dani Olmo to collect Raphinha’s pass, dribble past his opponents, and hit home.
Raphinha's movement without the ball has a colossal and positive impact on him and his teammates. It enables him to generate space out of nothing by using his body's faints or reading his teammates’ movements to react depending on their actions. Here, Robert Lewandowski draws the center-back attention and adjusts his body, insinuating his intention to go to the left. That vacates the central corridor for Pedri to progress with the ball. Raphinha, moving in both directions, wins him a space where he receives Pedri’s pass and plays it back to him when he crashes the box. The latter scores his name, putting the ball toward the left.
Raphinha showed a masterclass performance in terms of moving down the left half-space when Dani Olmo starts on the right. Here, Barcelona’s left-back Gerard Martín finds Olmo shifting across and instantly runs behind his marker to receive. In the meantime, Rayo Vallecano's right-back, Ivan Balliu, hesitates whether he should track Raphinha or face Gerard Martín. That gives the Brazilian the space to take the ball and cross it toward the far post. Unfortunately, Robert Lewandowski missed the chance.
Takeaways:
Hansi Flick's style befits Raphinha’s profile. The latter played four games, scored three goals, and provided three assists. In addition, his off-ball movements and his ability to read the game help his teammates and take pressure off them in deep buildup or advanced positions.
A great start to the season, Raphinha could ever dream of. Like Pep Guardiola said, “Preseason is officially over” and the real battle starts after the international break. It’s up to Raphinha to stay sharp and climb the ladder to touch milestones.
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