Ansu Fati imposes himself in Barcelona’s 5-2 thrashing of Valencia

Barcelona give Albert Celades’ Valencia side the Real Madrid treatment

Ernesto Valverde chose a youthful team against Valencia, but it paid off as Barcelona thrashed Valencia 5-2 in a dominant performance at home. The star of the night was Ansu Fati, but Luis Suárez also proved his worth with a tremendous brace.

The atmosphere at the Camp Nou was placid at the commencement of the game, but had become absolutely electric within the first 10 minutes. Ansu Fati had set the historic arena alight with his confidence and skill, and Barça were 2-0 up already.

In the 2nd minute, Frenkie de Jong was found in a tight area by Carles Pérez. The former Ajax man spotted a run from Ansu Fati down the middle and sprayed it through. Antoine Griezmann’s genius dummy opened up a lot of space and the teenage sensation rifled it past Jasper Cillessen.

It was a goal which completely blew up the Camp Nou, and Fati simply oozed confidence from then onwards. Cut to 5 minutes later, Jordi Alba’s passed it through to Fati on the left flank. The starlet went past Ezequiel Garay with decadent ease and put it into De Jong’s path.

The Dutchman accepted the return of the favour, and found the back of the net for the first time in Barça colours with a simple tap-in. Valencia never really recovered from that blow, although they did manage to score with Kevin Gameiro on a counter-attack.

Rodrigo’s excellent through ball led to an easy opportunity for the clinical Gameiro, and the Frenchman put it past Marc-André ter Stegen with ease, although the goal was held up by deliberations by VAR.

But Valencia’s suffered yet another setback early in the second-half. Arthur made a Xavi-esque run, and passed it into Griezmann. The French centre-forward’s attempt at goal was horribly spilled by Cillessen, and Gerard Piqué easily scored the rebound.

The next few minutes were very frustrating for Los Che. Nélson Semedo hit the post with an accurate shot from outside the box, and Barça had a long spell of possession before Valencia breathed a sigh of relief as Arthur committed a foul on Dani Parejo.

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But Valencia were not to enjoy that relief for long. At the hour-mark, boy wonder Ansu Fati was taken off for ‘El Pistolero’. Luis Suárez took no time to make his presence felt, and scored a magnificent goal in the 61st minute.

With the ball at his feet at the edge of the box, Suárez did a delightful fake shot before spotting a small amount of space between two defenders. Then, the 32-year old Uruguayan forward put it into that gap, and it went in off the post.

Following Suárez’s goal, Barça didn’t face much resistance from Valencia. Albert Celades’ men simply gave up, and didn’t show much dynamism. Then, the Uruguay international finished it off with a clinical finish after a scramble set off by fellow substitute Ivan Rakitić’s shot.

Los Che got a consolation through substitute Maxi Gómez in extra time.

Ansu Fati clearly stood out with his hour-long display of skill. The Bissau-Guinean striker was the very image of confidence as he showboated his way through the Valencia defence, and ended the night with a goal and an assist apiece.

Frenkie de Jong also silenced his doubters with stats similar to Ansu Fati, although with lesser attention from the crowd. He was reliable, and showed a great amount of flair. The young Netherlands international is certainly warming to Ernesto Valverde’s tactical setup.

The trio of Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Piqué showed that they still have it with solid performances. On the other hand, Antoine Griezmann was a little lacklustre. He showed a high work rate, but failed to find the back of the net.

Carles Pérez was lively, and his partnership with De Jong was very fruitful. But on the right flank, Nélson Semedo was not that effective except for the first goal and his attempt on goal. The Portuguese right-back could see his place taken by Sergi Roberto in the near future.

This was certainly Barcelona’s best performance till date this season. Almost all of the players performed up to expectations, and others exceeded them. It will give the side a huge amount of confidence going into the Champions League opener against Borussia Dortmund.