Raphinha – Football Flame

13Mar

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Barcelona win amid refereeing controversy

Raphinha (22) of Barcelona celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during La Liga week 25 match between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona at San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, Spain on March 12, 2023.Still mired in controversy over payments to the company of a former refereeing committee official, Barcelona have restored their lead over Real Madrid to nine points in the Spanish league after a late VAR decision went their way. Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 1-0 on Sunday after video review disallowed an 87th-minute goal by Bilbao forward Inaki Williams for a handball in the buildup. VAR also was used to confirm Barcelona’s winning goal by Raphinha after it was initially disallowed for offside. The review of Williams’ goal took nearly three minutes. When the decision was announced, it dre...

5Mar

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BARCELONA FC, LALIGA, Raphinha

Raphinha header sends Barcelona 10 points clear

Raphinha of FC Barcelona celebrates after scoring a goal during the Spanish League football Match between FC Barcelona vs Valencia CF at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on March 5, 2023.Barcelona went 10 points clear at the top of La Liga for a few hours at least after beating struggling Valencia. Raphinha put Xavi’s side into the lead with a header from Sergio Busquets’ dinked ball over the top. They looked set to take control of the game when they won a penalty in the second half but Ferran Torres hit the post against his old team. Ansu Fati struck the woodwork a minute later and Barcelona ended with 10 men after Ronald Araujo was sent off. The Barca defender was shown a straight red card for a professional foul on Hugo Duro, who was running on to Jules Kounde’s poor header. Barc...

16Feb

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BARCELONA FC, EUROPA LEAGUE, Raphinha

Europa League: Man Utd draw thrilling contest with Barcelona

Raphinha of FC Barcelona and Casemiro of Manchester United during the UEFA Europa League knockout round play-off leg one match between FC Barcelona and Manchester United at Spotify Camp Nou on February 16, 2023 in Barcelona, Spain.Manchester United and Barcelona contested a thrilling first-leg draw at the Nou Camp to leave their Europa League play-off tie finely poised. Having previously met in two Champions League finals – both of which Barca won – the sides are on the path to recovery in trying to reach those heady heights again. This encounter in Europe’s secondary competition was another step on that road back to the top. Xavi’s men grabbed the opener when Marcos Alonso headed in at the back post from Raphinha’s corner, but United responded immediately through the in-form Marcus Rashfo...

21Dec

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BARCELONA FC, LALIGA, Raphinha

Raphinha’s nightmare return to Barcelona from Brazil

Raphinha of Brazil during the World Cup match between Croatia v Brazil at the Education City Stadium on December 9, 2022 in Al Rayyan Qatar.Barcelona forward Raphinha was due to return to training this Wednesday along with Memphis Depay, as the last of the non-French players to come back from World Cup duty. However travel delays mean he will likely be back on Thursday. After 11 days of holiday following Brazil’s elimination on penalties at the hands of Croatia, Raphinha was due to fly back to Barcelona from Brazil, via Lisbon. A lengthy layover in Portugal and some lost luggage mean he will be late back to work though. The Brazilian winger posted the following on his Instagram account. “I would like to thank TAP for leaving us on the plane for more than an hour. And now they inform us tha...