Fati makes history at Barca

BARCELONA. — Ansu Fati became the youngest player ever to score a brace in Spanish La Liga football on Sunday by capitalising on two brilliant Lionel Messi assists to give Barcelona a 2-1 victory over Levante.

Fati, at 17 years and 94 days old, broke the previous record held by Juanmi Jimenez, who scored twice for Malaga against Real Zaragoza at 17 years and 115 days old in 2010.

Messi teed up Fati’s quick-fire double with a defence-splitting pass and then a trademark weaving run before Ruben Rochina scored Levante’s goal in the 92nd minute, which really should have come sooner.

Barca reduced the gap at the top to three points behind Real Madrid and began to regain some rhythm under new coach Quique Setien after Thursday’s 5-0 thumping of Leganes in the Copa del Rey. Yet Levante should have converted more of a handful of excellent chances in the second half, suggesting Barcelona’s defensive problems and fragility when in the lead are far from solved.

Leganes and Levante, who sit 18th and 13th respectively, offered a relatively straight-forward route back to winning ways too for Barcelona, who were wobbling last weekend when they followed a last-gasp win over Segunda side Ibiza with a convincing defeat by Valencia.

Setien, who replaced Ernesto Valverde as coach last month, found his methods questioned and there was evidence against Levante to suggest he may have decided to introduce his style of play more gradually.

Barca played with more urgency and ambition, their dominance of possession sacrificed occasionally for riskier passes forward.