Raphinha: ‘In my head I was leaving Barça, but a few small words can change you’

Two years ago the Brazilian thought his time at Barcelona was ending but, two La Liga titles later, he is now captain and the most potent No 9 in Europe For once, Raphael Dias Belloli puts the brakes on. The man who seems to be in perpetual motion, a footballer forever on fast forward, pauses, goes quiet for a moment and then, softly, utters something that says so much: “I think maybe people saw in me something I didn’t realise was there.” He did not know he was a leader, but he likes i