Ansu Fati scored to assist La Roja to defeat Jordan 3-1 only day before the start of their FIFA World Cup 2022 campaign, marking his triumphant comeback to the Spanish national team lineup.
The selection of the 20-year-old Barcelona attacker in the Spain squad was highly debatable, but coach Luis Enrique opted to take a chance on him and gave him the start against Jordan in the friendly to give the kid some momentum before the tournament.
Fati scored the game’s first goal for La Roja barely 13 minutes into play with a slick finish after being set up by Marco Asensio of Real Madrid.
Ten minutes into the second half, another Barcelona youngster, Gavi, extended Spain’s lead by putting the game beyond doubt with a goal from inside the box.
Late in the game, Athletic Club’s Nico Williams added a third, and in stoppage time, Jordan’s Hamza Al-Dardour scored a consolation.
Along with Fati and Gavi, Barcelona’s Eric Garcia also started the match and played for 72 minutes until being taken off by Rodri. Before being replaced by Nico Williams, who scored the third, Fati also played 72 minutes on the day.
Gavi was replaced by Ferran Torres, a teammate from Barcelona, shortly after scoring.
Aymeric Laporte was replaced by Jordi Alba just before the hour mark, giving him a run-out of more than thirty minutes in addition to these four Barça players. Pedri and Sergio Busquets were not used as substitutes.
Although the outcome gives Spain some momentum, Ansu Fati’s goal will be the highlight of the friendly. The 20-year-old made an impression with a goal, his second for La Roja, in his first game for Spain in more than two years.
In order to prepare for the World Cup in style, Gavi also scored his second goal for his country.
Spain’s World Cup campaign gets underway on November 23 when they play Costa Rica in Group E. Prior to wrapping up the group stages with a tie against Japan on December 1, they play Germany five days later.
