Raphinha’s performance in Barcelona’s 2-1 La Liga loss to Rayo Vallecano enraged the fans, who held nothing back against the winger. Vallecano took the lead in the first half thanks to Alvaro Garcia Rivera, and Fran Garcia made it 2-0 in the second half. While Robert Lewandowski pull one back for Barcelona, it only proved to be a consolation.
Barcelona blew the chance to open a 14-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, pinning the nail in the slim hopes of the Los Blancos to catch up with their rivals. While Carlo Ancelotti’s side were defeated 4-2 by Girona, the Blaugrana were also shocked by Vallecano. Xavi’s team now have 76 points after 31 games.
Barcelona looking to sell Raphinha in the summer
Raphinha, on the other hand, was the player who drew the most criticism. During the match against Vallecano, the Brazilian winger completed 0 dribbles and made no good crosses. The right-hand side of Barcelona was looking paralyzed, as it created no real threat for the home side.
Since club Lionel Messi left them in the summer of 2021, Barcelona had pinned their hopes on Raphinha to stable their right flank. However, as it turns out, too much was expected from the ex-Leeds winger, who has switched on and off throughout the season. And fans were again slamming the attacker for his latest performance:
Raphinha against Rayo Vallecano:
– 1 shot
– 0/2 dribbles
– 56 touches
– 1 key pass
– 0/6 crosses
– 1/3 long balls
– 3/10 ground duels won
– Lost possession 21 times pic.twitter.com/mp5A51YVrg— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) April 26, 2023
Raphinha with a cross but fails to connect with anyone, bro need 5G hotspot ?
— AYONITEMI?? (@Ayonitemi1000) April 26, 2023
REMOVE RAPHINHA!!! HE'S AN ENEMY!
— BeksFCB (@Joshua_Ubeku) April 26, 2023
Horrible passes today.
Sell the man already.
And don’t overrely on gavi, Pedri, frenkie, araujo, and RL
they need the rest ! Common !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— جــ (@aljoharaaln1) April 26, 2023
RAPHINHA GET OUT OF MY CLUB RIGHT NOW ????????
— Abdul (@AbdulAL97) April 26, 2023
When someone tells me that Raphinha is Brazilian pic.twitter.com/VuNmLRJLhR
— Joshua??? (@j_simire) April 26, 2023
Raphinha's worst performance. Let the summer transfer rumors start again…Newcastle give us 90M and I will personally deliver Raphinha to your club. pic.twitter.com/y59u7RXk3h
— FCB Albiceleste (@FCBAlbiceleste) April 26, 2023
Garbage performance after playing great against Atletico?♂️
— TheFCBArmy (@FCBArmy1) April 26, 2023
I can never rate raphinha ..that guy is just too annoying..if dembele is around ..we will be better in the attack most matches and won’t play draw
— Dinho FCB? (@Dinhofundzz) April 27, 2023
Cr@zy how Raphinha gets the ball and immediately slows down the counter-attack. Unbelievable!
— BeksFCB (@Joshua_Ubeku) April 26, 2023
Me anytime I see Raphinha with the ball pic.twitter.com/g1hkGE3cnp
— Joshua??? (@j_simire) April 26, 2023
Erling is there breaking records. While we're here flexing with ferran and raphinha ?
— NC (@night_culer) April 26, 2023
When is Dembele coming back,enough of this Raphinha guy.
One masterclass, and then disaterclass in the next three.— Jatin (@yuvi_010) April 26, 2023
Some barca fans think this guy is good for ucl football
He can't even dribble and he is a winger lol— NOVA (@Novaayo) April 26, 2023
My main criticism of Raphinha is he has the least amount of pausa I’ve seen in a while
— H (@hazfcb_) April 26, 2023
Xavi leaving Raphinha on the pitch after this disasterclass from the first minute till now says a lot about his game management. I'm gutted!
— BeksFCB (@Joshua_Ubeku) April 26, 2023
he plays one good game everyone hypes him up and then he goes back to this
— zayia (@devilsrink) April 26, 2023
Raphinha pic.twitter.com/fxyV1AOPNg
— BLAKE (@blakefcb123) April 26, 2023
convinced that raphinha makes us look worse than we are and now we want his twin carrasco on the left wing
— ‼️ (@whejwi) April 26, 2023
How is raphinha still playing for my club ?
— NC (@night_culer) April 23, 2023
Every time he got the ball this match, I got frustrated
— koundeszn (@a72678) April 26, 2023
However, Raphinha’s struggles go beyond just one game, as despite a fairly decent 9 goals and 10 assists in 41 games, the Brazilian has been transfer-listed by the Catalan club, 12 months after they bought him for £55m from Leeds United. Barcelona have put the word out about their plans to offload the 26-year-old, with Newcastle United firmly interested to bring him back to the Premier League.
The Magpies are on cloud nine following their 6-1 thrashing of Tottenham on Sunday, which propelled them to third place in the Premier League, leapfrogging Manchester United, who were playing Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final. However, the Tyneside outfit is not resting on its laurels and is planning ambitions for the summer transfer window as it approaches Champions League qualification.
According to Mundo Deportivo, a transfer for Raphinha is in the works after the club expressed interest in the Brazilian winger last year. It is being claimed that figures at St James’ Park have been watching him. And with Barcelona’s financial crisis well-known, the club would readily green-light a potential sale, should they be able to recoup anything around the £55m fee he was bought for.