Barcelona made it two wins from two games to extend their lead at the top of La Liga and it was the sorcerer and his apprentice who got the goals.
Lionel Messi, just a week before his 33rd birthday scored his 21st league goal of the season to seal the win. It came after 17-year-old Ansu Fati had broken the deadlock with his fifth goal of the season.
Barcelona were not at their best in the first half. They were ahead at at the break but it was barely deserved. Miguel Angel Guerrero had tested Marc Andre ter Stegen and grazed the frame of the goal. Fati saved them from still being on terms at half-time. He found the bottom corner with a shot from the edge of the area through a crowd of players
Leganes had started the game with eleven players who had scored just one goal between them all season. The Madrid minnows’ top scorers were all either sold or suspended – Youseff En Nesyri is now at Sevilla, Oscar Rodriguez was serving a one-match ban, and Martin Braithwaite was on the Barcelona bench.
It was difficult to know what was worse for Leganes – the fact that Barça had spared them having to face their former striker or the fact that they had been denied his services by a club who have so many options they can afford to leave him on the sidelines.
Fati did the business while Braithwaite rested. He has now scored his five goals in not much more than 700 minutes. The teenager is the revelation of the season with nine games still left to leave his mark.
