Barcelona teenager Ansu Fati scored twice to lead his side to a 2-1 win at home to Levante on Sunday, finding the net in a league game for the first time in more than four months and becoming the youngest player to net a La Liga double.
Fati, 17, latched on to a superb crossfield ball from Lionel Messi and fired between the legs of Levante goalkeeper Aitor Fernandez to give Barca a deserved lead on the half-hour mark.
The Guinea-Bissau-born forward promptly linked up with Messi again to double Barca's lead two minutes later, getting some good fortune as the ball bobbled through the legs of Fernandez and into the net.
Levante, who beat Barca 3-1 at home earlier this campaign, got a consolation goal in added time through Ruben Rochina and the forward had a chance to snatch an unlikely equaliser moments later but could not keep his shot under the bar.
The victory took second-placed Barcelona to within three points of leaders Real Madrid and ever so slightly eased the pressure on coach Quique Setien after last week's 2-0 defeat away to Valencia.
“This is all a dream, I dreamed of moments like this and I want to thank my team mates and my coach for giving me another opportunity,” Fati told reporters.
“It's not easy to come into a team like this as a young boy but I'm very grateful for the support I've had. I've still got a lot more to come, I like playing with Messi it's a dream to play alongside him, but I want to continue fighting for my place.”
Fati wrote himself into Barca's history books last August by becoming the club's youngest ever league scorer with a goal against Osasuna while still aged 16, making the most of a spate of injuries afflicting the team's forward line.
He struck against Valencia a month later before drifting out of the team, although he made history again last December with a goal against Inter Milan which made him the youngest player to score in the Champions League.
Injuries to Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele have given the youngster another run in the team and this was his fourth start under Setien, who pledged to give young academy players a chance when he succeeded Ernesto Valverde as coach last month.
Fati certainly made the most of this opportunity, dovetailing superbly with Messi and showing confidence in front of goal in contrast to fellow forward Antoine Griezmann, who squandered two clear chances to score in the first half.
He was not far from scoring a hat-trick, attempting an audacious bicycle kick late in the game which fizzed narrowly wide of goal.
The results
Premier League: Tottenham 2 (Bergwijn 63, Son 71) bt Manchester City 0.
Serie A: AC Milan 1 (Calhanoglu 29) drew with Hellas Verona 1 (Faraoni 13); Atalanta 2 (Toloi 12, Ilicic 35) drew with Genoa 2 (Criscito 19-pen, Sanabria 33); Lazio 5 (Immobile 3, 29, F. Caicedo 16, 38, Adekanye 58) bt SPAL 1 (Missiroli 65); Lecce 4 (Deiola 11, Barak 19, Falco 64, Lapadula 78-pen) bt Torino 0; Udinese 0 lost to Inter Milan 2 (Lukaku 64, 71-pen).
La Liga: Athletic Bilbao 0 lost to Getafe 2 (Suarez 36, Mata 50-pen); Villarreal 3 (Paco Alcacer 45+1, Pena 54, Cazorla 59-pen) bt Osasuna 1 (Aridane Hernandez Umpierrez 48); Sevilla 1 (Ocampos 77-pen) drew with Alaves 1 (Joselu 70); Barcelona 2 (Fati 30, 31) bt Levante 1 (Rochina 90+2).
Bundesliga: Cologne 4 (Bornauw 29, Cordoba 55, Ehizibue 90+1, Jakobs 90+2) bt Freiburg 0; Paderborn 2 (Zolinski 22, Vasiliadis 72) lost to Wolfsburg 4 (Knoche 26, Ginczek 40, 60, Arnold 76).
