Raphinha, Rodri, Eric Garcia: Five things we learned from Sevilla 1-3 FC Barcelona | OneFootball

Barcelona brought their perfect first part of the 2026-27 season to an end on Saturday with a 3-1 comeback victory over Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, a result that has taken Hansi Flick’s six points clear at the top of La Liga – for 24 hours at least, with Real Madrid taking on Atletico Madrid on Sunday. Here are the main takeaways from yet another impressive performance.

Raphinha is simply unstoppable

There are no longer words to describe Raphinha’s start to the season. Back-to-back hat-tricks, with the latest coming against Sevilla, has taken him on to 14 goals in only eight appearances, with 12 of those coming in La Liga.

When Lionel Messi left Barcelona, many feared that this goalscoring form would never be replicated, but Raphinha is doing his upmost to reach those levels in a Barcelona shirt. For him, the international break comes at a bad time as it will stop his momentum, although he will hope to pick up where he left off in three weeks’ time.

Rodri has made a huge impact on Barcelona since signing

Barcelona did not go into the summer planning to sign a midfielder, but bringing in Rodri will surely be their most important piece of business. The 30-year-old has kept things together defensively, and but for a crucial challenge in the second half, the Catalans may not have made it eight wins from eight.

Rodri is someone that will raise the standards inside the Barcelona dressing room, and it’s clear that he’s already making an impact in this regard. The Champions League, as well as La Liga, will be firmly in the club’s sights if he continues to be a leader on and off the pitch.

Eric Garcia needs to recover his best level – and quickly

At the start of the summer, Flick made the decision to go with Eric Garcia as his starting right-back, thus demoting Jules Kounde to a backup role. The Spaniard was outstanding last season, but it’s safe to say that he’s not yet reached those heights during the opening weeks of the current campaign, and that is a concern. He was not good enough to stop Sevilla’s goal, allowing the cross to come in from which Youssouf Fofana scored.

Karim Adeyemi deserves to be a starter right now

Anthony Gordon has not had a bad start to life at Barcelona, but it’s clear that he’s lacking some confidence right now. He was off the boil again against Sevilla, as he generally never looked like a threat down the left – compare that to Karim Adeyemi, who is riding the wave of a very short start to his own career in Catalonia.

Perhaps Gordon can use the international break to get into a better headspace, but right now, he deserves to be behind Adeyemi in the pecking order. It remains to be seen whether Flick thinks likewise.

Livakovic struggles to assert himself as Barcelona’s no.2

A lot of Barcelona supporters were pleased to see Dominik Livakovic starting against Sevilla, given Wojciech Szczesny’s struggles against Racing de Santander. However, the Croatia international was not assertive in his own performance, so it’s unclear whether he has done to assert himself as Joan Garcia’s permanent backup.

Fortunately for Barcelona, Garcia is due to return after the international break, but if he picks up another injury later in the season, there’s unlikely to be much confidence in his replacement – whether that is Livakovic or Szczesny.