Ansu Fati celebrated his return to the Spanish national team setup in style as he found the back of the net to help La Roja clinch a 3-1 victory over Jordan days before their FIFA World Cup 2022 campaign kicks off.
The 20-year-old Barcelona forward’s inclusion in the Spain squad was a major doubt but manager Luis Enrique decided to take a punt on him and handed him a start in the friendly against Jordan to help the youngster build some steam ahead of the tournament.
And the move paid off as Fati opened the scoring for La Roja just 13 minutes into the game, with a composed finish after being played in by Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio.
Spain doubled their tally ten minutes into the second half as another Barcelona youngster, Gavi, fired the ball into the back of the net from inside the box to put the result beyond any doubt.
Athletic Club’s Nico Williams added the third late in the game before Jordan scored a consolation goal in stoppage time through Hamza Al-Dardour.
Apart from Fati and Gavi, Barcelona defender Eric Garcia also started the game and stayed on the pitch for 72 minutes when he was replaced by Rodri. Fati, too, played 72 minutes on the day before making way for Nico Williams, who scored the third.
As for Gavi, he was taken off soon after his goal, to be replaced by Barcelona teammate Ferran Torres.
Apart from these four Barça stars, Jordi Alba also got a run-out for more than thirty minutes as he came on for Aymeric Laporte just before the hour-mark. Sergio Busquets and Pedri were unused substitutes.
While the result helps Spain build some momentum, the biggest positive from the friendly will be Ansu Fati and his goal. The 20-year-old was playing his first match for Spain in over two years and left a mark with a goal – his second for La Roja.
Gavi, too, scored his second international goal, warming up in style for the World Cup.
Spain begin their World Cup journey on November 23 with a Group E clash against Costa Rica. They play Germany five days later before winding up the group stages with a tie against Japan on December 1.