Ansu inspires Barca to win over Valencia
BARCELONA: Ansu Fati came to the rescue again on Sunday by scoring a sensational goal and earning a penalty in a 3-1 victory over Valencia as Barcelona got a big week off to a winning start.
Memphis Depay slammed in the spot-kick and Philippe Coutinho, who came on for Fati on the hour, added a late third to give a comfortable complexion to a game that Valencia had led after just five minutes.
Ansu, 18, went off with Valencia still chasing an equaliser, an indication of how important Ronald Koeman considers his involvement in Wednesday’s Champions League game against Dynamo Kiev, with the season’s first Clasico against Real Madrid coming four days later.
The victory moved Barcelona up to seventh in the table on 15 points, five behind league leaders Real Sociedad but with a game in hand.
Madrid are only two points clear of Barcelona.
This was the teenager’s fourth game since returning from 11 months out with a knee injury.
“We try to get Ansu to his maximum as soon as possible,” said Koeman.
There were some short-term boosts too, with Sergio Aguero coming on as a substitute in the final minutes once the result was secure to make his Barcelona debut, four months after joining from Manchester City.
A calf injury has meant a slow start at Camp Nou for Aguero but the 33-yearold will be a valuable option for Koeman if he can regain form and fitness in the next few weeks.
RESULTS
Rayo Vallecano 2 (Hernandez 26, Nteka 66) Elche 1 (Boye 14); Celta Vigo 0 Sevilla 1 (Mir 54); Villarreal 1 (Gerard 55) Osasuna 2 (Torro 26, Avila 87); Barcelona 3 (Fati 13, Depay 41-pen, Coutinho 85) Valencia 1 (Pena 5)