Barcelona's Ansu Fati youngest to score brace in La Liga

Madrid Ansu Fati became the youngest player ever to score a brace in La Liga by capitalising on two brilliant Lionel Messi assists to give Barcelona a 21 victory over Levante Fati at 17 years and 94 days old broke the previous record held by Juanmi Jimenez who scored twice for Malaga against Real Zaragoza at 17 years and 115 days old in 2010 Messi teed up Fatis quickfire double with a defencesplitting pass on Sunday and then a trademark weaving run before Ruben Rochina scored Levantes goal in the 92nd minute which really should have come soonerBarca reduce the gap at the top to three points behind Real Madrid and begin to regain some rhythm under new coach Quique Setien after Thursdays 50 thumping of Leganes in the Copa del Rey We could have won 82 or 83 said Setien We lost a little control in the second half and conceded too much but it was a good job from the teamYet Levante should have converted more of a handful of excellent chances in the second half that suggested Barcelonas defensive problems and fragility when in the lead are far from solved Leganes and Levante who sit 18th and 13th respectively offered a relatively straightforward route back to winning ways too for Barcelona who were wobbling last weekend when they followed a lastgasp win over Segunda side Ibiza with a convincing defeat by Valencia Setien who replaced Ernesto Valverde as coach last month found his methods questioned and there was evidence against Levante to suggest he may have decided to introduce his style of play more graduallyBarca played with more urgency and ambition their dominance of possession sacrificed occasionally for riskier passes forwardYet Levante also pressed high and left gaps to be exploited despite the likes of Valencia and Granada enjoying more success against Setiens team by sitting deep and bursting out on the break Fati has been one of the main beneficiaries of Setiens arrival He exploded onto the scene at the start of the season but was used increasingly rarely by Valverde who may have been wary of burdening the teenager with too much too soonInstead Setien has started Fati in all five of his games in charge so far and this was the first time his faith has really been rewarded He is a boy who is emerging and has great potential Setien said Today he had a historic day for his goals and for helping the team Messis own excellent form also continues He now has nine goals and four assists in his last 10 league gamesHis first setup for Fati came from the centre circle where he played a reverse pass through three Levante players that sent clear his teammate who cut inside Jorge Miramon and finishedHandful of opportunitiesLess than two minutes later Fati was in again Levante lost the ball upfield and Gerard Pique fired straight into Messi inside the right flank midway inside the oppositions half He drove into the penalty area and when he finally stopped by a cluster of Levante chasers he slid left to Fati who fired through the legs of Aitor Fernandez for a secondNelson Semedo crashed a shot against the crossbar and then hopped over Tono only for Antoine Griezmann to tap wide at the front post But Levante were more dangerous in the second half and could have taken a draw if they had been more clinical with a handful of opportunities The best of them fell to Gonzalo Melero who blazed over and by the time Rochinas shot flew through one pair of legs and in off the hands of MarcAndre ter Stegen there were only two minutes remainingThere was time for one Levante attack and Sergio Busquets weak header gave Rochina another chance but he could not keep his shot down Sevilla and Real Sociedad both lost ground in the race for Champions League qualification as Getafe beat Athletic Bilbao to climb to third Real Sociedad lost 21 away at struggling Leganes while Sevilla were held to a 11 draw at home to AlavesIn between Getafe had carved out a 20 victory away at Bilbao to put them in pole position behind Real Madrid and Barcelona Jose Bordalas team are now ahead of Sevilla on goal difference while Real Sociedad are five points further backGetafe missed out on fourth on the final day of last season but they continue to prove their challenge was far from a oneoffCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereAlso download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever