Bigger than Barcelona: Raphinha is again a victim of the greed that is ruining football

Maybe this is just the world we're living in now where anything people enjoy must be run through the capital machine to extract every ounce of profit. To come clean, I'm not interested in any of these games being played across the world.

Instead, as a Barca fan, I find myself holding my breath. At the moment, Barcelona are the toast of town because their brand of football is so unique.

We tune in for the beauty and the art of it. Against all odds, it appears once again that Hansi Flick is painting a masterpiece.

At the center of the project is Raphinha who has scored 14 goals in 8 games playing a position that is new to him at a time when Barcelona had no one else to fill it. This is a story for the imagination.

It's the escapism that fans crave in a world where the rich are consolidating power, while the rest of us have less control over our lives. Barcelona are what they are at the moment because of the human ingenuity of the people on the field.

Supporters pay big bucks to see these games, to buy the shirts, and spend hours of their valuable time each week to support the club they love. When will we reach a breaking point?

Hopefully, Raphinha's injury isn't too serious. Regardless, every time we have an international break, the inevitable happens, and finally it should serve as a wake up call.

The disappointment hurts even more for us because the Blaugrana are off to such an impressive start. Even if it's just "muscular discomfort," it's even more of a reason to take seriously as a symptom of the overload players are subjected to.

At a minimum, the quality of play will be reduced as the long and dense season chugs along, and the risk of more serious injuries compounds. Significant members of the supporting cast like Eric Garcia and Ibrahima Konaté went down too.