Ansu Fati broke the record of Juanmi Jimenez, who had scored twice for Malaga against Real Madrid at the age of 17 years and 115 days in 2010.
Barcelona's Guinea-Bissau forward Ansu Fati (L) celebrates with Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi after scoring during the Spanish league football match be tween FC Barcelona and Levante UD at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, on February 2, 2020. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP)
Barcelona prodigy Ansu Fati became the youngest La Liga player ever to record a brace as the Catalan giants beat Levante 2-1 on Monday night. Fati, 17 years and 94 days old, scored off two assists from Lionel Messi at the Camp Nou.
Fati broke the record of Juanmi Jimenez, who had scored twice for Malaga against Real Madrid at the age of 17 years and 115 days in 2010, as he netted two goals in two minutes.
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The victory was much-needed for the new coach Quique Setien who has been under some pressure ever since his hiring. Earlier a defeat at the hands of Valencia, in Setien’s third match as the manager, had allowed Real Madrid to replace Barcelona at the top of the points table in La Liga.
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However, the victory against Levante helped the Blaugaranas reduce the gap with their arch-rivals at the top to three points. Also, Barcelona are finally looking to find the rhythm under their new coach, especially after last week’s 5-0 thrashing of Leganes in the Cop del Rey.
Barcelona displayed more urgency and ambition in their approach and it often left their back exposed due to riskier passes forward. Levante, on the other hand, also pressed higher and left gaps at the back, unlike Valencia and Granada who attained success against Setien’s team by sitting deep and bursting out on the break.
But Messi continued his personal form and has now nine goals and 10 assists in his last 10 league games. He set Fati up for his first goal from the centre circle after crossing three Levante players. The youngster did not make any mistake and cut through Jorge Miramon for a neat finish in the 30th minute.
The second came a minute later when Levante lost control of an attack and a clearance by Gerard Pique found Messi inside the right flank. The Barca veteran drove into the penalty area and before being stopped by the visiting defenders he had delivered the ball towards his left to Fati who smashed the ball through the legs of Aitor Fernandez.
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