The Spanish teenager made his first appearance for The Catalan giants after 322 days since his last one and it was an emotional return, capped with a brilliant individual goal to complete a 3-0 win over Levante.
Ansu Fati of FC Barcelona celebrates goal 3-0 during the La Liga Santander match between FC Barcelona v Levante at the Camp Nou on September 26, 2021 in Barcelona Spain (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
Memphis Depay scored his third La Liga goal to open the scoring from the spot and the lead was doubled few minutes later, as Sergino Dest put the ball on the plate for Luuk de Jong, who fired past the Goalkeeper for his first goal for the club.
Missing manager Ronald Koeman due to suspension, Barcelona continued to dominate the visitors, who are less threatening and sit back to let the host dictate the play.
Ansu Fati was introduced less than 20 minutes remaining and the La Masia graduate, whom much has been expected from on his return did not take much time to remind the spectators at Camp Nou what he is capable of doing.
Collected an intercepted and force his way to the edge of the area, managing to wrong foot his marker and firing his shot past Fernandez in the Levante goal.
Emotional scenes follow with the player made his way to the stands to celebrate with his doctor and teammates.
A welcome sight and a needed result for Barcelona who have endured a poor start to the season so far.
Ansu Fati after the game: “We are Barça and we are going to fight for all the competitions we are in. It is a pride to wear this number after Leo, I am grateful to the captains and the club for the confidence they have given me.”
Barcelona return to action in Portugal when they face Benfica in the Champions league on Wednesday looking for their first points on the competition this season.
Barcelona faithful will be hoping the teenager can maintain consistency in form and help them revive their season.
Afolabi Kehinde Hassan
