FC Barcelona debuts for Szczęsny and Toni Fernández

18 years separate them, but 4 January 2025 will always be a special date for Wojciech Szczęsny and Toni Fernández, who both made their debuts for FC Barcelona in the Copa del Rey match with Barbastro. The circumstances are very different. The Polish goalkeeper came out of retirement to join the club as cover for the injured Ter Stegen, while the Catalan striker is yet another promising starlet to have emerged from La Masia, and is still only 16 years old.

Szczęsny will be delighted to have a kept a clean sheet as Iñaki Peña was rested for the evening, but in all fairness, the Polish stopper never had much to do on a night that Barça utterly dominated their opponent and came home with a 4-0 win. Barbastro only managed to muster a single attempt on Szczęsny's goal.

Second youngest debutant in the 21st century

Toni Fernández didn't come on until the 81st minute as a replacement for Pablo Torre, but made an immediate impact, setting up a great chance for Ansu Fati and coming close to scoring himself.

At 16 years, 5 months and 17 days, he has become the second youngest player to play for Barça in the 21st century, topped only by his team-mate Lamine Yamal.

Born in Rubí, Catalonia on 15/07/2008, Fernández has been at the club since joining from Espanyol in 2018, and is the cousin of another promising player at La Masia, Guille Fernández.

In his time at Barça, he has consistently being playing at higher categories than those expected for his age, and has nevertheless been delivering great performances and a number of goals. This year with Barça Atlètic he has scored two goals and given one assist in just five matches, having missed three months with an injury, and he has also been called up to the first team, despite not getting to play. Until tonight!