Barcelona's Raphinha apologizes to Cubarsi for stolen goal - ESPN

Raphinha apologized to Pau Cubarsí for stealing his goal after opening the scoring in Barcelona's 4-0 Champions League quarterfinal rout against Borussia Dortmund at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.

Robert Lewandowski also scored twice and Lamine Yamal added the fourth to leave Barça in a commanding position going into next week's second leg in Germany.

Raphinha netted the first goal of the game, sliding in to push Cubarsí's shot, which was almost over the line anyway, into the back of the net in the 25th minute.

But the Brazilian faced a nervous wait as VAR reviewed whether he was onside when defender Cubarsí prodded the ball toward the goal after latching on to Iñigo Martínez's knockdown.

«I was worried on the first goal if I was offside, it's good that it was given,» Raphinha told reporters. «I apologized to Cubarsí. He told me no worries, he'd count it as an assist. I thought the ball was going wide; it was an instinctive decision.»

It was Raphinha's 12th goal in the Champions League this season — more than any other player in the competition — and he also set up goals for Lewandowski and Yamal to push his assist tally to seven.

In total, he has 19 goal contributions in the tournament for Barça this season, matching Lionel Messi's best return for the club in a single European campaign.

«I love playing with top-level players,» Raphinha added of his incredible form. «We know each other really well on the pitch and that is important. We're achieving spectacular numbers and we hope we keep going like this.»

It was the 21st time in 48 matches this season that Barça have scored four goals or more. Lewandowski now has 40 goals in all competitions this term — and 99 for Barça — while Yamal has netted 14.

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