Valverde: It's not normal what Ansu Fati has done

Praised the youngster's performance

Posted Sunday, September 15, 2019 by Marca.com

Ansu Fati scored a goal and assisted another one in Barcelona's 5-2 win over Valencia and Ernesto Valverde hailed the performance of the 16-year-old.

The 55-year-old coach has labelled his player's display as abnormal, given that almost no player so young is at the level to feature for the Catalan side in such an effective way.

"Becoming a Barcelona player is not straightforward," he said at his post-match press conference.

"He is focused and good.

"It is not normal to score with the first touch, to give an assist with the second and to almost score with the third.

"We are interested in getting him to know this level and for him to see the pace of the work, so that he can contributes more to us."

Fati, along with Carles Perez, were two La Masia products who got their chance to play with the seniors following Barcelona's issues with the injuries.

"Throughout a season there are always spaces for players to appear," he added.

"When they appear they have to do well, because it is their moment.

"Fati did very well when he was at the Barcelona B team.

"It is clear that doing well in those moments is important.

"Both players are taking advantage of it."

Valverde praised his players for hitting the ground running against Valencia, but he acknowledged that they gave Los Che space to counter-attack.

"The best thing is that we went out with determination, to try to score," he said.

"Sometimes we were in danger of accumulating a lot of players up front and leaving space for counter-attacks, as they have fast players.

"We insisted and we had a good second half.

"I thought Valencia were good, I have to say it.

"They come from a difficult situation and conceded two quick goals.

"They made it 2-1 and they had complicated attacks.