Mundo Deportivo: Raphinha delivered a passionate speech before the El Clásico

The Brazilian spoke in the locker room and said that he was approaching the match like "a war" and that it was time to get back at Real Madrid for everything they had done to Barça in the league match that the Whites won in October.

The Spanish Super Cup final against Real Madrid was very special for the Barça squad. Proof of this was the powerful speeches given by several players in the locker room before the match. One of them was Ronald Araujo's, revealed by Pedri after the game and detailed by Mundo Deportivo. But the Uruguayan wasn't the only one to speak; according to this newspaper, Raphinha also addressed his teammates as the de facto captain, leader of the squad, and a trusted confidant of Hansi Flick. And according to eyewitnesses, the Brazilian's speech also had an effect on the team because he referenced what happened at the Santiago Bernabéu in the last league Clásico, where Barça suffered a defeat and Real Madrid celebrated wildly, with several players showing disdain and contempt towards Lamine Yamal.

Raphinha took the floor and said that the word that came to mind to describe the upcoming match was "war, because this is a war," that the team had to approach it as such, and that the players had to be aware that they needed to avenge what the Real Madrid players had done to them in the league match at the Bernabéu on October 26th.

Raphinha told the team that they had to show their pride and prove that they were a better team than Real Madrid. They couldn't tolerate the disrespect they had received at the Bernabéu and that it was time to return the favor, citing the comments from the Real Madrid bench about Barcelona and the unrestrained Real Madrid celebrations as if they had won the Champions League. He also mentioned when Carvajal provoked Lamine Yamal at the end of the match by gesturing with his hand that he was talking too much. All this stemmed from Lamine's slip-up at a Kings League event three days earlier, when he fell for a joke about a team in that competition comparing it to Real Madrid, saying that "they steal too and complain."

Raphinha's words were heartfelt, but also firm and serious, far removed from the kind of phony speeches that only mention testosterone. It was clear he had prepared his speech and that what he said was deeply personal. On the day of the league Clásico, Raphinha couldn't play due to injury, but he finished the match on the sidelines and even went onto the pitch to protect Lamine from the pressure of Courtois and, especially, Vinicius. The references from the Real Madrid bench to Barcelona during the match and the exaggerated celebration of the Merengues' victory, after four consecutive defeats against Barça in all the Clásicos of the previous season, were still etched in Raphinha's memory, and he believed it was time to respond on the pitch to Real Madrid. And respond he did, scoring two goals and being Barça's best player and the most decisive factor in their victory.