Ansu brings smiles back to Barca
There’s no doubt that Barcelona have had a rollercoaster 2020, and there are probably still more twists and turns to come. Yet one player who continues to bring joy and hope for the future is 17-year-old Ansu Fati.
The teenager broke records all over the place last season and was the star of the show again on Sunday. He smashed home Barca’s first goal of the season, coolly added a second a few minutes later and even won a penalty before the first half was up too.
Fati’s goals put Barcelona on the way to a comfortable win in their opening game and helped get their season off to a great start. Thoughts of Luis Suarez, who had earlier enjoyed a goalscoring debut with Atletico, were quickly forgotten and for once a Barcelona win wasn’t all about Messi.
Koeman makes his presence felt
Ronald Koeman’s first competitive game in charge of Barca couldn’t have gone much better. His team scored four times, had the game won by half-time and even managed a clean sheet too.
It’s no surprise Koeman was beaming after watching his new-look team dismantle a pretty poor Villarreal side.
There will, of course, be much, much toughter tests to come but this was a promising start to the Koeman era. There was plenty of young talent on the pitch, Philippe Coutinho shone, Lionel Messi scored and Ousmane Dembele made his first La Liga appearance November 2019. Continue reading