LaLiga champions Barcelona have come flying out of the gate this season, with Hansi Flick's freewheeling side picking up where they left off last term and establishing themselves as perhaps the most in-form team on the planet.
Before their campaign was so rudely interrupted by a three-week international break, Barça won their first eight games of the season in all competitions, scoring 36 goals and conceding just eight. That run encompasses seven straight victories in LaLiga and a 5-1 thrashing of Feyenoord in their opening UEFA Champions League fixture.
Just to cement their absurd goal-scoring prowess, the Catalans have somehow managed to hit five goals or more on five separate occasions during those eight games. That is thanks in no small part to the incredible form of winger Raphinha, who has been excelling as a stand-in center forward after his club's summer pursuit of Atlético Madrid striker Julián Álvarez ended in failure.
- Soccer's wildest warmup kits: The good, the bad and the ugly - Why this international break is longest ever (and that's a good thing) - 2026 Ballon d'Or: Full men's, women's shortlists, host city, more
The nimble Brazil forward is already well clear at the top of the LaLiga goal-scoring charts with 12 goals from seven games (14 in eight across all competitions) so far. That prolific streak that culminated in back-to-back hat tricks last week, scored in the space of four days in resounding victories over Racing Santander and Sevilla.
After signing off with a "perfect" hat trick (i.e. left foot, right foot, header) against Sevilla, Raphinha can now claim to have made the best goal-scoring start to a season of any Barça player in history. The club captain narrowly pipped the previous record of 13 goals in eight games that was set by Cesar Rodríguez in 1948-49.
Watch LIVE LaLiga matches on ESPN
Barcelona, Real Madrid and every other match, in English and Spanish, all season long. Sign Up Now
Indeed, Raphinha's early scoring form of 12 goals in the first eight LaLiga games of the season has only been bettered once in the 21st century. That was by Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored a frankly astounding 16 goals in eight games for Real Madrid at the start of the 2014-15 season.
Raphinha -- who has somehow missed out on being nominated for the Ballon d'Or -- isn't the only Barça player putting up ridiculous numbers this season. The rejuvenated Lamine Yamal has scored eight goals in as many games while laying on an additional six assists across all competitions -- becoming the youngest player in LaLiga history on record to reach (and subsequently surpass) the 50-assist mark in the process.