Lionel Messi holds a frankly ridiculous number of records at Barcelona, and Raphinha has started 2026-27 in a manner that makes some of them look (slightly) less untouchable.
The Brazil international has scored 15 goals in 10 La Liga appearances, with another two in the Champions League, and is thriving at No.9 after Barcelona lost Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres and failed to land Julian Alvarez in the summer.
A thigh injury and recent defeats to Real Madrid and PSG have interrupted his momentum, but a brace in Barcelona’s 6-1 demolition of Alaves suggests he’s not going anywhere.
We’ve rounded up seven ridiculous Messi records that Raphinha can try to break after his stonking start to 2026-27.
Longest scoring streak in a league campaign
Messi more than doubled the best-ever scoring streak set in La Liga by Ronaldo Nazario back in 1996-97 (10) when he scored in 21 consecutive outings in the 2012-13 season.
Unbelievably, that run included the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner scoring against all 19 other clubs in La Liga. No one in European football history has ever even gotten close.
Raphinha could’ve been up to six straight matches if he hadn’t gifted Yamal a penalty against Levante. The Brazilian did assist twice, but the goalscoring streak reset.
He’s since managed back-to-back goalscoring appearances against Racing Santander and Sevilla, but failed to find the net in his brief cameo against Real Betis.
A goal in the defeat to Real Madrid followed, and he’s now scored in two successive appearances after his brace against Alaves. Just another 20 to go to beat Messi. Ahem.
Most goals for Barcelona in a Champions League campaign
Here’s an achievable one.
This is a Barcelona-specific record, rather than an outright one. Messi scored well over a hundred Champions League goals and stands second in the all-time rankings, but his best tally of 14 goals back in 2011-12 is only the joint seventh-best individual season.
Raphinha bagged a brace in Barca’s 2026-27 opener against Feyenoord, but has since missed the victory over Galatasaray through injury and drew a blank in the 4-2 defeat to PSG.
That leaves him with two goals from two appearances, with five league phase games remaining before we even get to the knockouts. There’s still plenty of time to make up for lost ground.
Given the expanded format, we’d be amazed if Cristiano Ronaldo’s all-time record of 17 goals for Real Madrid in the 2013-14 season doesn’t get broken in the coming years. In this form, Raphinha could be among the contenders.
READ: 5 candidates to break Ronaldo’s record for most goals in a Champions League season
Highest WhoScored rating for a league season
Messi averaged above an 8.00 average rating from WhoScored’s statistical algorithm for every season between 2009-10 and 2020-21. Twelve years of outrageousness.
To put that in context, only one player in the whole of La Liga – Lamine Yamal with 8.23 – managed that last season. And Yamal’s score was lower than Messi’s worst of the lot (8.34 in 2013-14).
Maintaining the standards to challenge Messi’s best-ever WhoScored average rating (8.88 in 2011-12) would be evidence of a remarkable individual campaign.
Raphinha, currently, isn’t far off – with 8.50 from the 2026-27 campaign so far. Just maintain, actually slightly improve, on that over the following 27 matches. No biggie.
Most goals in a La Liga season
The big one. Messi scored a mindblowing 50 goals in the 2011-12 La Liga season. That’s also an all-time record across Europe’s five major leagues.
Obviously, it’s a daft ask for Raphinha to get anywhere near that tally – but he’s made a solid start, currently leading Europe’s goalscoring charts with 15 goals in just 10 league appearances so far.
Extrapolate that 1.5 goals per game over the course of 38 appearances… and the Brazilian would be on for 57 La Liga goals this season.
He’s already missed one of Barcelona’s 11 league matches through injury, but even at his current rate across the club’s remaining 27 fixtures, he’d finish with 55 or 56 goals.
Usual caveats apply. Sample size. Pinch of salt. Naturally.
Most La Liga hat-tricks in a season
It makes sense that Messi was frequently scoring bagfuls when he notched 50 goals in 2011-12.
That year he scored eight hat-tricks in La Liga, which remains a record – joint with his old foe Cristiano Ronaldo, who matched his record at Real Madrid in 2014-15.
Playing as a centre-forward, with the likes of Anthony Gordon, Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez and Pedri among the supporting cast, he’ll back himself to get a few more this season.
He’s already got two, remarkably scoring back-to-back hat-tricks against Racing Santander and Sevilla. That’s a quarter of the way to Messi’s record after just 11 league games. Just six more to go…
Most La Liga games scored in a La Liga season
Messi’s logic-defying 2011-12 season – when Barca somehow didn’t even win the title – is doing a lot of work for us here.
But it’s actually the following season, when they wrestled their league crown back from Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid by matching their record 100 points, that Messi set the record for the most games scored in.
The Argentinian scored in 27 of Barca’s 38 games that season.
Raphinha has now scored in eight of his 10 La Liga appearances, finding the net against Elche, Athletic Club, Rayo Vallecano, Valencia, Racing Santander, Sevilla, Real Madrid and Alaves.
That leaves him needing to score in 19 of Barcelona’s remaining 27 league games to match Messi’s record.
Given his form so far, that’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. Provided he stays fit, of course, which is an admittedly big if.
Most goals in a season
Same as the above, but all competitions. Probably even more ridiculous.
As well as his 50 La Liga goals in 2011-12, Messi notched 73 in all competitions. That’s an all-time record in the entire history of European football, seven more than Ferenc Deak and Gerd Muller notched in Hungary and Germany in the 1940s and 1970s, respectively.
So far Raphinha has notched 17 goals in 12 games in all competitions. That’s an average of 1.42 goals per appearance, despite his recent injury setback.
Maintain that rate over the course of about 52 appearances and he’d be in Messi territory. The trouble is that he’ll need to stay fit, keep scoring at this ridiculous rate and hope Barcelona go deep in the Champions League.
Easy. Good luck, Rapha.
READ NEXT: Raphinha equals Lionel Messi record as Barcelona make perfect La Liga start
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Barcelona’s top 25 goalscorers of all time?