The trident does not yet have a name, but it already exceeds the numbers of its predecessor.

BarcelonaLamine Yamal, Raphinha and Lewandowski only had one thing left to do. against Borussia DortmundThere was a moment in the match when they could have immortalized their relationship in football history and helped renew the walls of Catalan bars. But they squandered the opportunity. In the 77th minute, Lamine Yamal had just sealed the tie with a toe-kick finish, a blend of the skill of a futsal player and that of Ronaldinho at Stamford Bridge, and the three ran beyond the edge of the pitch to celebrate the goal. It then seemed as though the situation would end with a three-way hug while they displayed ecstatic smiles, like the members of Barça's last shining trident: the MSN of Messi, Suárez, and Neymar, who gave the Culera a gift on a distant night.

The celebration ended up being a group celebration, and Lamine Yamal stepped aside to show the cameras the postal code of the Rocafonda neighborhood of Mataró, 08304. So, they still don't have the iconic photograph. Nor a name. But this trident already has the unconditional affection of the Barça fans and the respect of all of Europe. And the numbers, what numbers. Between the three of them, they've scored 82 goals, even though spring hasn't even had time to put on its prettiest dress. The next highest-scoring trident in Europe this season is Bayern Munich, with 65 goals, and the third is Real Madrid, with 62.

The all-time scoring benchmark remains the MSN tally of the 2015-2016 season. Between them, Messi, Neymar, and Suárez scored 131 goals (the Uruguayan 59, the Argentine 41, and the Brazilian 31), 77.1% of Barça's total goals that season. Now, Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Lamine Yamal account for 55.6% of Hansi Flick's team's total goals, but they already surpass the MSN records from Barça's last Champions League triumph, the 2014-2015 season in Berlin. In that edition, Messi scored 10, the same as Neymar, and Suárez finished with 7 (27 goals between the three of them). With four possible matches still to play, Raphinha already has 12, Lewandowski 11, and Lamine Yamal 5 (28 goals between the three of them). Lamine is the born genius; Raphinha, the self-demanding worker who exceeds expectations; and Lewandowski, the goal official.

The exaltation of the fashionable trident came this Wednesday with the 2-0, which will be studied in mathematics universities. Lamine Yamal, starting from the right flank of the attack, from where he usually looks for a shooting position to send the ball to the goalkeeper's far post, this time decided to execute a lobbed cross towards the far post. There Raphinha appeared, practically without an angle, to head a pass to Lewandowski. It was no routine assist. The Brazilian, with the most imprecise part of his body, delivered another lobbed pass that sauntered along the goal line, evading the goalkeeper and two Borussia defenders, and found the Pole at the far post, who was waiting for the gift to tame it with the same precision as his teammates. Emre Can, one of the defenders overcome in this maneuver, could only snort as if a Dali painting had just been placed in front of him.

Good harmony after the initial tensions

The relationship between Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, and Lewandowski is good after overcoming the initial tensions between the Catalan and the Pole, which became evident on the pitch with the latter's arguments with the former for not lifting his head when it was necessary. For the moment, they have not built a friendship as solid as that of their predecessors, who were inseparable on and off the pitch and shared They've been repeatedly roasted, but they're already considered a separate compartment within Hansi Flick's team. "We always want to play together and we understand each other on and off the pitch," Lewandowski told Movistar+ after thrashing Borussia Dortmund. It was a subtle way of clarifying that the starting forward line, barring any setbacks or a rest, is made up of these three, and that no one else is currently qualified to question it. Despite Ferran Torres's scoring streak, who has no problem publicly stating that he doesn't consider himself a substitute at Barça.

Phonetically, this trident hasn't chosen the best members. The initials of the three virtuosos are two Ls and an R. There's the same consonant celebration as with MSN, but those initials were reminiscent of Messenger and sounded more musical. In contrast, the current trident's best combination, RLR, leads nowhere and is difficult to pronounce. It may even be confused with Robert Lewandowski's trademark RL9. It will be easier to remember them as the trident of the third triplet either the trident of the sixth Champions League.