Barcelona’s youngster Ansu Fati put up yet another impressive performance to score his third goal in only two appearances so far this season as Barcelona defeated Celta Vigo 3-0.
Lionel Messi also put in a key performance which helped Barcelona overcome an early red card to defender Clement Lenglet to win at Celta Vigo on Thursday, making it two wins out of two in the new La Liga season.
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Teenager Fati was well positioned in the opposition penalty area and with pace and anticipation, he nipped in between two Celta defenders to put Barca ahead in the 11th minute, picking up where he left off with his two early goals in Sunday’s 4-0 win over Villarreal.
Barca looked to be under threat when Lenglet received a sending off for a second yellow card offence at the end of the first half, for striking former Barca player Denis Suarez in the face, sparking furious protests from Messi and Gerard Pique.
Related: Transfer Update: Barcelona sign Ajax full-back Sergino Dest for £23.8m
But Barca soon forge ahead after the interval through Lionel Messi who ran circles around Celta’s defence, firing a low shot, which Lucas Olaza turned into his own net past keeper Ivan Villar for an own goal.
The Catalans, who had failed to win their last five league games at Celta’s Balaidos, maintained control even with 10 men, only once looking in danger of conceding.
Nolito tested Barca’s stand-in keeper Neto and while Celta’s Miguel Baeza pounced on the rebound, Sergi Roberto threw his body in the way to deflect the goal-bound shot on to the crossbar.
Messi almost got a goal himself with another bursting run into the area but his shot was saved by Villar, leaving Sergi Roberto to lash high into the net in added time for the third goal.
Sergi Roberto praised Barca’s fighting spirit and said they had learned to battle after their humiliating 8-2 thrashing by Bayern Munich in last season’s Champions League.
“It was very important we continued to play with positivity when we had one player less,” he said.
“We defended as a team, everyone did their job and we played with a lot of desire, and showed we really want to achieve great things this season.
“We realised after the result against Bayern that we had to change things, we were fighting right up until the last minute today.”
Sevilla continues perfect start to the season with a win over Levante
Europa League champions, Sevilla, left it late as they also made it back-to-back victories at the beginning of the league campaign, with Youssef En-Nesyri scoring in injury time in a 1-0 success against Levante.
The Morocco international, who was brought on after 71 minutes as a replacement for Luuk de Jong, scored the only goal in the game after heading home a cross from Jesus Navas.
Other La Liga Matchday 4 results
Thursday 1st October
- Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Cadiz
- Sevilla 1-0 Levante
- Celta Vigo 0-3 Barcelona
Wednesday 30th September
- SD Huesca 0-0 Atletico Madrid
- Villarreal 3-1 Alaves
- Eibar 0-1 Elche
- Real Madrid 1-0 Real Valladolid
Tuesday 29th September
- Real Sociedad 0-1 Valencia
- Getafe 3-0 Real Betis
Barcelona seem to have hit gold in Ansu Fati. They won’t miss Messi too much after he leaves next season.