Brazilian attacker Raphinha has had quite the journey since he joined Barcelona.
Signing for the Blaugrana in the summer of 2022, the former Leeds United man did not have the best of starts to life at Camp Nou – as fans often singled him out as an underperformer despite Barcelona’s La Liga-winning ‘22/23 campaign. After a disappointing first season, Raphinha was the sole shining light in Barcelona’s ‘23/24 UEFA Champions League exit as he scored home and away against Paris Saint-Germain, but could not help his team get past the Parisians.
After that, however, it’s been all uphill.
The ‘24/25 season saw Hansi Flick take the reins at the Blaugrana, and Raphinha’s fortune did a complete turnaround. While he has since developed a reputation as one of the best attackers in the world, his wheel of fortune truly got rolling in the ‘24/25 season – a campaign that featured one of the most memorable performances in his Barcelona stint – his display against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.
😅 Many of you will have seen Raphinha sign an image of that iconic FotMob Raphinha Rating Meme, but here’s the actual game where it came from… It came from Barcelona’s game against Real Madrid in 2025, where he scored twice, got an assist, picked up a yellow card, and then went off with an injury… And then someone added all those other icons to the rating! 😅
— FotMob (@FotMob) November 11, 2026
The 2025 Supercopa de Espana final featured archrivals Barcelona going up against Real, an outing that would go down in history as a 5-2 win for the Blaugrana – and a display to remember for their Brazilian talisman. Raphinha scored twice in the match with two incredible finishes past Thibaut Courtois, piling on Los Blancos’ misery with the Catalan outfit’s third and fifth goals of the evening. Raphinha also added to his legend that night with an assist to set up Alejandro Balde’s strike that was Barcelona’s fourth goal of the night, registering three goal contributions in a span of only 12 minutes plus added time at the end of the first half.
Real Madrid 2️⃣–5️⃣ Barcelona https://t.co/y5UH6YsYhT
— FC Barcelona (@fcbarcelona_tr) January 12, 2025
However, Raphinha – also the Blaugrana captain for the night – was not done being the most impactful player of the outing, as he went on to get himself booked in the final quarter of the game, before being withdrawn by Flick owing to an injury soon after. The performance earned Raphinha a 9.4 rating on reputed football app Fotmob, and its graphic representation of his performance – known to include the player’s key contributions to a match – was a stacked visual accompanied by symbols representing two goals, an assist, the injury, the booking, and the substitution, all featuring together.
🎥| Nothing here, just Raphinha signing his own meme, and the fan shaking from emotions while recording the moment. 🤣 — via @cyvvce https://t.co/jnYtDlRrZH
— forblaugrana (@forblaugrana) November 11, 2026
The image soon became a viral meme online, with a version of it including fans exaggerating Raphinha’s performance in the game – adding more symbols to the visual – including more goals and assists, a red card, penalties missed, and to the amusement of fans online, even car dashboard icons. And according to social media, the meme has now travelled far enough to reach Raphinha himself – as the attacker was recently spotted signing the visual during the ongoing international break where he is on duty with the Brazilian national team.
I was having a heartattack https://t.co/lbhxYgYuM9
— mercury (@cyvvce) November 11, 2026
Fans made sure to react to the rare moment of internet culture overlapping with footballers’ activities in real life, and with Raphinha’s current form – 19 goals and 3 assists in all competitions so far this season – we might soon see a sequel to the viral meme with even more icons against his name.
