Memphis Depay opened the scoring for Barcelona before Luuk de Jong extended the lead and then Ansu Fati netted a stoppage time goal.
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Ansu Fati scored on his return as Barcelona secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Levante at Camp Nou on Sunday. Memphis Depay opened the scoring in the 7th minute through a penalty kick before Luuk de Jong extended the lead. And then, Fati, who was returning from a long injury lay off of almost 10 months, put the icing on the cake with a stoppage time goal. The result would have certainly eased some pressure on Ronal Koeman after failing to win in the last three games.
Depay gave a perfect start to the home side as he earned a penalty within five minutes of kick-off after being brought down inside the box by Nemanja Radoja. The Dutchman stepped up and converted the spot kick.
Depay was involved again as Barcelona extended the lead in the 14th minute. The 27-year-old released Sergino Dest down the left flank and the American cut inside before setting up De Jong to fire in from inside the box. It was the Dutchman’s first goal for the Catalan club since joining from Sevilla on the last day of summer transfer window.
Few minutes later, Blaugrana could have added a third but Gerard Pique failed to get a good connection as he put the ball wide from Depay’s cross at the far post. Meanwhile 17-year-old Gavi then failed to lob the ball over the Levante goalkeeper Aitor Fernández.
Three minutes from break, Óscar Mingueza’s cross from the right found Depay at the far post, but the forwards header was brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by Fernandez.
Ten minutes from time, Fati made his first appearance since November, 2020 as he came in for De Jong. It didn’t take long for the 18-year-old sensation to get on the score sheet as he completed the drubbing with a low shot from outside the box in the injury time.
The teenager had suffered a serious knee injury last year and had undergone three surgeries, therefore it was a much needed goal for the youngster to boost his confidence as questions marks would have been raised about his return.
Meanwhile Barcelona’s future looks bright as other teenager’s Gavi and Nicolás González also did a very good job alongside veteran Sergio Busquets in the midfield. They controlled the midfield pretty well and moreover it was wonderful to see them contribute defensively also.
The youngsters have done a decent job to impress the coach and are likely to get a bit more game time until Frankie De Jong and Pedri return. Meanwhile, the likes of Ronald Araujo, Mingueza and Riqui Puig have also been doing a fine job.
It looks like the Catalan club has good number of talented youngsters and it they could nurture them very well the future could be bright for the them.
Levante allowed too much space to the opposition and Barcelona still has decent quality to exploit those spaces. Therefore it would be interesting to see whether Koeman would be brave enough to unleash these youngsters against tougher opponents like Benfica, Atletico Madrid and, a little later, Real Madrid.
The win helped Barcelona to 6th spot with 12 points from 6 games whereas Levante are struggling at 17th spot with four points from seven games.
Barcelona will next travel to Benfica for the Champions League group stage fixture on Thursday..
