Ansu Fati back after 101 days

Xavi Hernández has repeatedly insisted that he doesn’t want to take risks with Ansu Fati and that the young starlet would not be returning until he feels fully ready to do so. But after several weeks of exercising individually and a few sessions with the rest of the squad, the Barça coach was pleased to announce on Saturday that the Bissau-born 19-year-old is good to go and is going to be included in the squad for Sunday’s game at home to Mallorca (kick-off 9.00pm CEST).

Indeed, Xavi also confirmed in his press conference that he intends to give Ansu at least some playing time.

We’re talking about a player who has only played in ten games this season, and only four of those as a starter, and yet he still has five goals to his name. He has a career total of 18 goals in 53 games, of which he was in the starting line-up for 27.

Injury woes

Ansu has been out for 101 days after picking up a left hamstring injury in January’s Copa del Rey game with Athletic Club. He left the field in tears. It was not long since he had recovered from a nine-month absence with a knee injury and now he was going to side-lined once again.

He came back with a bang after that first injury, scoring an absolute cracker of a goal just 13 minutes after coming on as a substitute against Levante.

He then won a penalty against Valencia before missing a couple of games with a minor knee problem, and then returned to score a crucial winner in the game with Dinamo Kyiv, and also score an early goal against Celta.

He came off in that game after feeling something wrong with his hamstring. And the worst fears were confirmed in the following game.

Hopefully the injury woes are now finally over for one of the most promising young players in world football and his second comeback will be definitive. There are five crunch games to go this Liga season, and his services are badly needed. Bring on Ansu Fati!