Marca: Raphinha is an important pillar of Barcelona. His absence makes the team unable to perform in many aspects.

Barcelona's performance has been ups and downs in recent times, which makes coach Flick miss general Raphinha very much. "Marca" talks about the role of the Brazilian winger in the Barcelona team.

Barcelona is currently at a critical moment of the season. Flick's team failed to continue the performance of last season and fell into a stage full of uncertainty. The Red and Blues lost their leading position in La Liga and are also far away from the forefront in the Champions League. It is worth mentioning that Barcelona finished second in the Europa League last season, but currently they are only ranked 11th. There are many reasons for Barcelona's recent decline in performance. One of the obvious problems is the defensive fragility the team has displayed in many games, especially Wednesday's game against Club Brugge, where they were scored three times by their opponents. This game exposed the problem of too many mistakes in the defense and the offside line layout was not as effective as last season.

However, there is another factor that many people ignore, that is, Barcelona misses Raphinha very much. While the important roles of Yamal and Pedri in the team are often discussed, the Brazilian has proven to be an important pillar of the team. In the seven games in which Flick was able to use the forward, the team achieved 6 wins and 1 draw, scoring 21 goals and conceding 5 goals. In contrast, in the games when Raphinha missed due to injury, the performance of the Red and Blues was quite different. In 8 games, they had 4 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, scoring 19 goals and conceding 15 goals. In addition, it is worth noting that of the seven games played with Raphinha, five were away from home, while of the eight games played without him, five were played at home. These data clearly show that Barcelona needs Rafinha. He had three goals and two assists before getting injured. His role on the offensive end lies not only in his own production but also in attracting the attention of the opponent's defense, thereby creating more space for Yamal.

Raphinha's contribution goes far beyond goals and assists. He is the first player to exert high-intensity pressure when the opponent plays the ball, and is better defensively than Lewandowski, Yamal or Rashford. In addition, he injects more energy into the team through his fighting spirit and fighting spirit. Without him, Barcelona would be unable to achieve its goals in many aspects. Therefore, Flick is eager for Raphinha to return, and the German coach's plan is to let him rejoin the team after the international break. Rafinha did not participate in the public training session at Camp Nou on Friday because no one wanted to take the risk while he was still recovering.