Fati the wonder, hero Neymar booed... things we learned from last night's games

After two week's international break, club competitions ignited fans' enthusiasm on the last matchday, and there were some memorable moments last night. What did we learn?

Ansu Fati: The Boy Wonder

In a thrilling night in Catalunya, Barcelona smashed Valencia 5-2 at Camp Nou.

Ansu Fati is 16 years old. When he was born, Gerard Piqué was 16 years old and had moved to Manchester United. That’s right, today he took the field with a player who is literally twice as old as he is. And the wildest thing is, he outperformed that veteran. Hell, he outperformed everyone except the guy who set him up for the opening goal (more on that later).

Oh, yeah, did we mention that Ansu Fati, 16-year-old making his first start in La Liga after scoring on his debut having come off the bench against Osasuna, opened the scoring? Because opened the scoring. Tearing in off that left-flank to meet a Frenkie de Jong cross and slam it home, low and smooth into the side of the net like some kind of right-footed Messi.

Five minutes later he had the ball down the left, danced through some Valencia players (he left Ezequiel Garay – another player twice his age – grasping at thin air with one bit of skill) and then squared the ball for Frenkie de Jong to slam home the club’s second goal. So for those keeping track that’s two goals scored and one goal created in his first 53 minutes of La Liga football.

Not bad, eh? And then the rest of his display was just great. Fearless and fearsome he drove hard at Valencia, never afraid to bet on himself or let fly at goal. Sure there were moments of obvious immaturity, times when he did silly things positionally, but for a player to possess so much confidence and tactical understanding at just 16?

Ansu already looks more comfortable in Blaugrana than Philippe Coutinho ever did. Ousmane Dembélé, too, looks more awkward than Ansu. This boy wonder looks born to play for Barça, and the standing ovation when he was taken off was both a beautiful sight for such a young La Masia product and also an encouraging sign that he is being saved to play against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. That is a huge boost to his stature but also a worrying sign for Dortmund’s defence. Ansu’s on his way!

Booed for 90 minutes, then a stunning winning goal

After a tumultuous offseason, Neymar made his season debut with PSG. He was met by raucous booing from the home fans in Paris before scoring a stunning, winning goal.

The 27-year-old Brazilian had not played in any of PSG's first four regular season matches as a transfer saga involving his old club Barcelona played out. 

On Saturday fans booed almost every time he touched the ball.

But in stoppage time the star earned a little applause when he scored a goal-of-the-year candidate with a bicycle kick that kissed the left post before crashing into the net. But even as some cheered, others booed the striker.

Neymar said he had no message for the home fans.

"I knew this would probably be tough. If they want to yell at me, they are free to," he said, "They should not focus on me, though. The most important thing is the team. From now on, I will be playing every home match as if it is away."

Guardiola the loser

In one of the greatest shocks of the season so far, Norwich beat Premier League champions Manchester City 3-2.

Vincent Kompany left Manchester City in the summer and the Premier League champions declined to sign a replacement. That’s just monumentally short-sighted when you consider that Kompany only had to appear and play the run-in last year because injuries took John Stones and even Nico Otamendi out of commission. So to think you could go into another season without signing a centre-back is lunacy.

Yet that’s just what Guardiola did, and now with Aymeric Laporte’s injury he was forced to rush John Stones back into the side and pair him with the volatile Nico Otamendi. This is the partnership that largely won the 2017/18 Premier League, but that was a long time ago now and neither man looks anything like the same now – nor do they play well together.

Watching Manchester City at Carrow Road and there was the overwhelming sensation of 2016/17, Pep Guardiola’s first season in England. That year it was obvious how good City were in attack but they were so open defensively that they kept on losing points down to poor defending and goalkeeping. Obviously City are much more accomplished side now than then, but because Guardiola didn’t sign a replacement for Vincent Kompany then his side may be at risk of a massive regression.

Especially because this match exposed more than just one weakness. It wasn’t just the poor defending from set-pieces and their lack of centre-back depth, but the fact that if you can just get the first goal: City can struggle. Guardiola’s men only trailed for 132 minutes in 2018/19, a Premier League record. They rarely if ever fall into a hole, they find it very hard to get out.

Last season, Manchester City won just 24 points from losing position. But alright they were rarely losing, yeah? Except that City have now trailed in 25 Premier League matches under Pep Guardiola and only come back to win just six of those games. Six. They have also drawn just six as well, meaning that half the time they fall behind they stay behind. This is only a small weakness because they are rarely behind, but in a title race as tight as City vs. Liverpool, even a small weakness becomes a fatal flaw.

Chelsea enjoy record-breaking afternoon

Although it was not a perfect win for Chelsea, with Wolves’ two goals showing the Blues do still have some weaknesses and the worst defence in the Premier League, Frank Lampard’s side did break a few records.

Most revolved around Abraham’s hat-trick, with the 21-year-old becoming the youngest Chelsea player to score three goals in a Premier League match – beating the record previously held by Eden Hazard.

Abraham also found himself on the wrong end of the scoresheet, being credited for an own goal after Kepa Arrizabalaga parried Roman Saiss’ shot onto his arm. This made the Englishman the first ever player to score a hat-trick and an own goal in the same Premier League game.

The hat-trick came after Abraham scored two goals in each of his past two Premier League games against Norwich City and Sheffield United. Abraham joins Cristiano Ronaldo and Dele Alli has one of just three players aged 21 or under to score two or more goals in three consecutive Premier League games.

Abraham was joined on the scoresheet by Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount for Chelsea, all of whom are English, have come through Chelsea’s academy and are under 22.

The trio are also the only three players to score for Chelsea in the Premier League this season, sharing 11 goals with Abraham bagging seven, Mount, three and Tomori, one. As a result, Chelsea are the first team in Premier League history to have each of their first 11 goals of the season scored by players under the age of 22, excluding own goals.

It is also the first time Chelsea’s first 10, and eventually 11, goals of a Premier League season have all been scored by English players.