FC Barcelona's new number 10, Ansu Fati scored on his return to action as the Catalan outfit thrashed Levante 3-0 at the Camp Nou on Sunday afternoon.
LaLiga
Result: Barcelona 3-0 Levante
Date: 26 September 2021
Venue: Camp Nou
Nico Gonzalez came into the Barcelona midfielder due to Frenkie de Jong's suspension while Eric Garcia and Philippe Coutinho also earned recalls.
The hosts got off to the perfect start when Memphis Depay converted a penalty for his third goal of the season after he was brought down in the box by Nemanja Radoja.
The lead was doubled in the 14th minute when, with Luuk de Jong bagged his first goal for the club after getting on the end of Sergino Dest's cross to slot past Aitor Fernandez from close range.
It was a much-improved showing from the stalemate with Cadiz as the chances continued to fall, with both Depay and De Jong forcing Fernandez into saves after 35 minutes.
Levante, meanwhile, struggled to get anything going in the attack as Barcelona shot-stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was largely untested in the opening 45 minutes.
With situation not changing in the second half, the visitors introduced Morales and Pablo Martinez 10 minutes after the break as they looked to change their fortunes.
Barcelona nearly got a third goal soon after as Depay raced through on goal after a ball over the Levante defence, but Fernandez did well to deny the Dutch forward.
The moment that everybody was waiting for arrived in the 81st minute as Ansu Fati made his first appearance since November after replacing De Jong for the final stages.
Fati made the perfect return as he wrapped up the scoring in second-half stoppage time as the Catalan giants ended a run of two games without a win.
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