Hansi Flick’s Barcelona have been a total machine in this start of the season. The Catalans have thrashed rivals such as Sevilla, Real Madrid, and Espanyol in LaLiga, and Bayern and FK Crvena Zvezda in Champions League. While Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewadownski are shining in the attack, it is Raphinha who is replicating Lionel Messi’s numbers in Europe’s biggest competition.
The Brazilian star was one of the goalscorers at the Red Star Stadium, adding his eighth goal in the competition in 2024. He became the first Barcelona player to score eight goals in Champions League in a calendar year since Messi did it in 2019. And he still has two remaining matches to try to equal the Argentine’s all-time record of 13 goals in a single calendar year (2012 and 2016).
On the other hand, Lewandowski isn’t so far away, having scored seven goals this year on his own. The Polish striker is also close to joining Messi and Ronaldo in the all-time goalscorer list of the competition, after scoring a brace against FK Crvena Zvezda.
Raphinha of FC Barcelona celebrates (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Barcelona, who is currently at the sixth spot of the table, will face Brest (November 26) and Borussia Dortmund (December 11) in the two remaining matches of the year. However, the first phase of the competition will resume in January, in order to define who will qualify directly for the next round and who will go to the playoffs.
see also
Lamine Yamal reaches Lionel Messi's debut age: The differences between them at Barcelona
Hansi Flick’s Barcelona are the highest goal scoring team
With only 16 games into the 2024/25 season, Flick’s team has already become one of the highest goal scoring squads in the history of the club with 55 goals so far. They broke the previous record from 1950/51, in which the team scored 54 goals in 16 games.
Barcelona currently lead La Liga as the top scorers with 40 goals, nearly double Real Madrid’s tally of 21, placing them second in the rankings. Across Europe’s major leagues, only PSV with 37 goals in the Netherlands and Sporting with 35 in Portugal come close to matching Barça’s impressive goal count.
see also
What if Messi were Brazilian? Former Cristiano Ronaldo coach offers peculiar take on Argentina star
The Catalans also lead the Champions League with 15 goals, trailed by Borussia Dortmund with 13. When combining Champions League and domestic goals, Bayern Munich ranks second overall with 51.
