Today, Ansu Fati became the youngest player to ever score two goals in one game in La Liga. Ansu Fati: “I have fulfilled a dream, I thank my teammates and the coach for a new opportunity. I am very grateful for the treatment of the dressing room. They help me a lot. I’m still young.”
Fati and Messi against Levante
Today we saw just a fantastic performance and game of striker of the Cules team-mate Ansu Fati. Barcelona played at home against Levante and won with the help of young talent Fati. Both teams played well, but Barca’s strategy and advantage of forwards do its thing.
Formations and starting lineups
Head coach Quique Setien choose formation: 4-3-3; Four defenders, three midfielders and three strikers. When Lopez accepts different: 4-4-2; Four defenders, four midfielders, and two forwards. The hosts had a significant preference for the guests, because of the Messi and Ansu Fati tandem. Levante had problems in defense. They were leaving big spaces for opponents.
Decisive goals from Anssumane Fati
1st half started with full dominating of the Catalonian team. Barca’s ball possession was 69% in the first half. In this part of the game, Setien’s team had a lot of moments to score the goal. On 14th minute Anssumane sent a slide-rule pass into the feet of Lionel Messi, who without a second thought fired a shot in on goal from mid-range, which only goes just wide of the right post. But very soon on 30th minute Lionel Messi produced a great pass that finds Fati inside the penalty area, who took advantage of the situation to rifle a slow shot into the back of the net. 1:0. In one minute 17 years old Ansu received a well-taken defence-splitting pass inside the box and scored. He buried the ball into the bottom left corner. 2:0. Also, Nelson Semedo had a chance to score the third goal of the match on the 36th minute, but unfortunately, his bullet only crashed against the crossbar. The first half ended without any scored goals and substitutions.
Ruber Rochina saved his team from loss of face
The 2nd half was more interesting to watch because the guests had a lot of exciting moments. They played very well, and the result was satisfying for the Lopez team. On the 54th minute, Ruben Rochina reacted superbly to latch on to a rebound, but he blazed the ball high over the crossbar. On the 6th minute of the match, Lopez prepared a substitution. Gonzalo Melero and Jose Morales replaced by Hernani and Borja Mayoral. On 65th minute Adrian Cordero (referee) gave a yellow card to Gerard Pique for his blatant foul. He’ll miss the next game because of that yellow card. Also, Jordi Alba took a yellow card.
Setien wants to change game strategy, so on 71st minute, he’s replacing Antoine Griezmann by Sergi Roberto. In a few minutes, Aitor Fernadez Abarisketa pulled off a great save to deny Messi, who made himself some space inside the box and unleashed a quick low drive to the bottom right corner. The ball was out of play. Both managers made another substitution on the 80th minute: from Barca Frenkie de Jong replaced by Arthur and from Levante Nikola Vukcevic replaced by Enis Bardhi. In 87th min. Setien replaced Fati by Ricard Puig. But this decision was a mistake for the hosts’ manager. Because on 92nd minute, Ruben Rochina didn’t hesitate and slammed the ball straight into the bottom right corner. His first-time effort from about 26 meters was beyond the reach of Marc-Andre ter Stegen and ended up in the back of the net 2:1. The referee ended the game at the 95th minute.