Raphinha, Karim Adeyemi, Joao Cancelo: Five things we learned from FC Barcelona 7-2 Racing Santander | OneFootball

Barcelona continued their perfect start to the 2026-27 season on Wednesday with a comprehensive 7-2 victory over Racing de Santander, with goals from Joao Cancelo, Raphinha (x3), Asier Villalibre (OG), Gabriel Jesus and Lamine Yamal. Here are the main takeaways from yet another impressive performance from Hansi Flick’s side, who are looking unstoppable.

Raphinha is the best player in world football right now

There are not enough superlatives to describe Raphinha’s performance levels at this moment. He’s had an utterly ferocious start to the season, and that considered against Racing with his first hat-trick since March. He never looked like missing when presented with his three opportunities, two of which came from the penalty spot – he was even kind enough to give one of the spot-kicks to Lamine Yamal, who ended up missing.

It’s quite incredible that Raphinha, who now has 11 goals and three assists in seven appearances, has been thrust into the centre forward as a result of Barcelona failing to sign Julian Alvarez or another world class striker, and yet, he’s looked better than anyone in the world. The Catalans have fallen upwards, and they will hope he can keep this going for the entirety of the 2026-27 campaign.

Adeyemi is tailor-made for Flick’s system

Adeyemi has made an excellent start to his Barcelona career, and that continued against Racing with his best performance in the Blaugrana shirt. He was a constant threat down the left as he won two penalties before laying on Lamine Yamal to finally get his goal in the 89th minute.

It’s now three goals and two assists for Adeyemi, whom you can argue should be ahead of Anthony Gordon in the pecking order on the left side of attack. He’s taken to Flick’s system with relative ease, and already, he’s looking like the bargain of the summer at €22m.

Cancelo puts pressure on Espart in left-back battle

Xavi Espart took advantage of Cancelo arriving late in the summer to become Barcelona’s starting left-back, but the Portuguese is coming for the position now. He was at his best against Racing, and while he got the credit for one goal, he was unlucky not to have another after La Liga awarded it to Villalibre.

His attacking ability is better than Espart’s, so there is a case for either one being better in certain matches. Most importantly, it is a good problem for Flick to have.

Livakovic should be Barcelona’s no.2 – not Szczesny

Joan Garcia was forced off at half time after he suffered a knee injury in a rather innocuous incident. It was somewhat of a surprise that Szczesny replaced him, and Flick’s decision looked to be the wrong one when he gifted a goal to Racing after he got the ball caught in his feet.

For at least the last 12 months, Szczesny has never looked totally comfortable when he’s playing. Thus, it made sense for Dominik Livakovic to stay following his summer move from Fenerbahce, and it makes more sense for him to now be Garcia’s backup ahead of the veteran Pole.

Jesus already looks like excellent business from Barcelona

Like Adeyemi at €22m, signing Jesus for €10m looks like fantastic business already for Barcelona. He’s played only 37 minutes, and yet, he’s already found the back of the net twice – and there was something very Luis Suarez-esque about his finish against Racing.

If he manages to stay fit, Jesus will surely be an excellent squad for Barcelona, which is all you can ask for someone that cost €10m.