Sport News: Barca’s child prodigy astonished

Ansu Fati’s goal against Inter Milan makes him the youngest goalscorer of all time in the Champions League. Can he follow in Lionel Messi’s footsteps?

With his 2-1 win over Inter Milan, Barcelona prodigy Ansu Fati is now the youngest scorer in Champions League history.

The Spaniard, just 17 years old, is raising the hopes of the Blaugrana to have the next Lionel Messi in their ranks.

Born in Guinea-Bissau, he immigrated to Spain at the age of six and moved to Barca’s world-famous talent factory “La Masia” in 2012.

He had played his way through all the youth teams and made a name for himself in the media for the first time when he scored four goals in nine matches in the 2018/19 UEFA Youth League season and prepared three more.

Barca’s youngest player in 78 years

For the current season, Fati was planned for the U19 and the second team. Barca’s injury worries at the beginning of the season – with Messi, Luis Suárez and Ousmane Dembélé, almost the entire offensive section was out of action – meant that the teenager’s hour had come.

At the age of 16 and 298 days, the winger made his debut for the star team in the match against Betis Sevilla on Matchday 2. Not a week later, he promptly equalised after his second-half substitution to become Barcelona’s youngest goalscorer in La Liga.

Another matchday later, he became the youngest player in the league’s history, scoring and scoring in one game. On top of that, he didn’t even need ten minutes.

Valverde: “What Ansu is up to isn’t normal.”

The steep rise of Fatis amazes not only the football world but also his coach Ernesto Valverde.

He indirectly threatened the competition after his shooting star’s gala match against Valencia: “What Ansu is up to is not normal. He has something special, is already very mature for his age. But he will play much better soon.”

Barcelona’s icon Messi didn’t leave the performances of his growth uncommented either. After Fati’s debut in August 2019, the Argentinean superstar said via Instagram: “I’m very happy to see that the guys from our house are fulfilling their dream of playing at Camp Nou.”

In the footsteps of Lionel Messi?

Now the next record. At 17 years and 40 days, he’s the youngest scorer in Champions League history. Also, Fati destroyed the Nerazzurri’s last 16 ambitions with his late winning goal – and indirectly helped their other group rivals, Borussia Dortmund, to progress.

Spain’s U21 international is reminiscent of the young Messi in some respects. He combines his enormous speed with outstanding ball-handling, which he uses skillfully in one-on-one situations.

He also has a flair for the perfect timing of passes and runs behind the last defensive chain, which allows him to finish time and time again.

If Ansu Fati continues his development in these dimensions, FC Barcelona fans will not have to worry about the future after the Messi era.