Ansu Fati became Barcelona’s second youngest player ever when he came on as a substitute in the Catalan’s 5-2 victory over Real Betis on Sunday.
The 16-year-old replaced Carles Perez after 78 minutes to write his name into the history books, coming behind only Vicente Martinez, who was 18 days younger than Fati when he played for Barcelona in 1941.
Injuries to the likes of Ousmane Dembele and Luis Suarez saw manager Ernesto Valverde decide to give youth a chance, and with Barcelona already winning by a four goal margin he clearly didn’t see the harm in giving Fati an invaluable experience.
(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
La Liga law deems that teams are not permitted to field underage players in late-night matches unless they are given permission by the player’s parents, and thus the Guinea Bissau teenager’s next of kin had to agree before he was named in the squad.
Fati did not look out of his depth during his performance, and showed a few nice touches as Barcelona saw out the comfortable win.
Lionel Messi posted a picture of the two his personal Instagram account after the game with the caption: “Very happy to see the boys fulfilling their dreams of reaching the first team and playing at Camp Nou in an official match.”
Fati came through the academy at Barcelona after moving to Spain from Guinea Bissau in 2013 aged just 10.
(Image: ALEJANDRO GARCIA/EPA-EFE/REX)
It remains to be seen whether he is involved in further senior matches this season, but after his accomplished cameo he has certainly done his chances no harm.
It was a relatively simple win for Barcelona despite Betis giving them a scare by opening the scoring through a goal from Nabil Fekir.
A double from Antoine Griezmann and further strikes from Perez, Jordi Alba and Arturo Vidal put the hosts firmly in control, although Loren did score a consolation late on for Betis.
