Madrid (AFP) – Ansu Fati, the 16-year-old starlet from Guinea Bissau, scored his second goal of the season as Barcelona breezed to a 5-2 win against Valencia on Saturday.
Karim Benzema netted twice for Real Madrid as they fought off a late comeback to beat Levante 3-2 as Eden Hazard made his La Liga debut.
Atletico Madrid retained their place at the top of the table, but only by one point from Real Madrid after their first defeat of the season when they lost 2-0 at Real Sociedad at the Basque club’s newly refurbished stadium.
With Lionel Messi still out and watching from the stands at the Camp Nou it was left to Fati take the plaudits.
Fati, who became the third youngest scorer in La Liga history when he came off the bench to net in a 2-2 draw at Osasuna this month, scored in the second minute, before providing the assist for Frenkie de Jong’s seventh minute goal.
The teenager got a standing ovation when he came off after an hour.
Barca coach Ernesto Valverde marvelled at Fati’s composure.
“It’s not usual that on his first touch he scores, and on his second he sets up a goal,” he said.
“To get used to being a Barca player is work for anyone, even more so for a boy so young, but he’s a balanced kid, he strikes me as being at ease.”
Kevin Gameiro got Valencia off the mark but a brace from the fit-again Luis Suarez meant Max Gomez’s injury time second for the visitors was purely academic.
The defeat left Valencia with just four points from four matches, leaving new coach Albert Celades — a former Real Madrid assistant coach — with a huge amount of work to do before the club play their first Champions League group game against Chelsea on Tuesday.
– Real show frailties –
At a rain-drenched Santiago Bernabeu, Benzema’s goals came just six minutes apart in the first half before Casemiro put Real 3-0 up.
However Levante, who had won their previous two outings, made a fight of it in the second half as they pulled goals back through Borja Mayoral and Gonzalo Melero.
“The second half was more difficult for us, but the overall feeling was positive,” said coach Zinedine Zidane, whose team had drawn their previous two games.
“We have got the three points and we were incredible in the first half, the way we played, the goals, the commitment. We just need to stay focused for the full 90 minutes.”
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2LwmIPd
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