Murad Al Masry (Abu Dhabi)
Brazilian Rafinha shone by scoring three goals, a hat-trick, in Barcelona’s great victory over Real Valladolid 7-0, in the opening of the fourth round of the Spanish Football League, bringing back memories of the first hat-trick scored by a Brazilian player in La Liga 66 years ago.
The strange coincidence was that Evaristo scored the hat-trick while playing for Barcelona, making him the first Brazilian ever to do so, and it happened in March 1958, also against Real Valladolid, in a match that ended in favor of the Blaugrana with seven goals as well, with a score of 7-1 to be exact!
Rafinha is credited with his ability to withstand pressure, after he was close to leaving Barcelona this summer, as the club intended to accept offers for his services, most notably from Saudi Al Hilal, but the player maintained his focus and succeeded in showing his best version at Barcelona so far, specifically under the leadership of German Hansi Flick, who took over the team’s training, succeeding Spaniard Xavi Hernandez.
Raphinha has gone through ups and downs since joining Barcelona in 2022, and has not performed at the level that would make fans insist on him staying, but he has now begun to carve his name into the club’s history books, thanks to this “hat-trick”, as he tries to establish his place among the long list of Brazilian stars who have passed through the venerable team, including, for example, Rivaldo, Neymar and Ronaldo.
It is noteworthy that Evaristo played for Barcelona between 1957 and 1962, scoring 178 goals in 226 matches, but he later moved to Real Madrid, shocking the fans of the “Catalan”, and continued in the capital until 1965.
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