Barcelona won a resounding victory when defeating Dortmund with a score of 4-0 in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on the morning of April 10. Raphinha was the initiator of the Catalan team’s victory when he scored the opening goal in the 25th minute of the match.

Notably, the Brazilian striker’s goal reminded the audience of the time Cristiano Ronaldo had his goal stolen by Luis Nani in a friendly match between Portugal and Spain in Lisbon on November 17, 2010.

After showing off his technique on the left wing past three opposing players, Ronaldo finished by chipping the ball over goalkeeper Iker Casillas’ head, sending the ball towards the goal.

Everything was perfect until the ball flew over the goal line, Nani in an offside position swooped in and headed the ball into the Spanish net. The linesman immediately raised his flag and disallowed Ronaldo’s goal.

After that situation, the Portuguese superstar was angry and continuously blamed his teammate for being deprived of the super product.

In the match between Barcelona and Dortmund on the morning of April 10, after a cross from Fermin Lopez, Inigo Martinez headed the ball into the penalty area. The ball found Pau Cubarsi and the center back stretched and shot towards the far corner of the goal, causing the ball to slowly roll into the net.

But when the ball rolled to the goal line, Raphinha rushed in and kicked the ball into the visitors’ net. This situation took the VAR referee team a few minutes to determine the Brazilian striker’s offside. Luckily for Raphinha, the semi-automatic offside technology determined that he was still standing above a Dortmund player. The opening goal was recognized for Raphinha.

The 28-year-old striker faced criticism after the match for taking away Cubarsi’s Champions League goal honor. Spanish newspaper Marca analyzed: “The Brazilian player stole a goal from his teammate. That’s something you should never do, especially with a kid like Cubarsi, who was about to score his first goal in the Champions League.”

After the match, Raphinha apologized to his teammate and explained: “I didn’t intend to steal Cubarsi’s goal, I just wanted to make sure the ball went into the net correctly. I apologized, he fully realized the problem and forgave me.”

This goal of Raphinha helped him make history when he reached the milestone of 19 times contributing to goals in the Champions League this season, equaling Messi’s statistics in the 2011-12 season, when the Argentine superstar had 14 goals and 5 assists in the most prestigious club tournament in Europe.

Raphinha is also leading the scoring charts in the 2024-25 Champions League with 12 goals in 11 games. The most notable was probably a hat-trick against Bayern Munich in October.

In addition, Raphinha also became the Brazilian player with the most goal contributions in a Champions League season, far surpassing Roberto Firmino (2017/18 season, 10 goals and 7 assists) or Kaka (2006/07 season, 10 goals and 3 assists).