Courtesy: Barcelona
FC Barcelona will travel to the Canary Islands to take on Las Palmas on matchday 26 of La Liga on February 23 (1:30 AM IST). With the title race heating up in the Spanish League and every game being of utmost importance, Barcelona will look to field a strong side and get all three points from the match. Keeping this in mind, FC Barcelona have announced their 23-man squad travelling for the game, and once again young forward Ansu Fati has not made the cut.
Barcelona has had a rather successful month of football in February, having played four games (three in La Liga & one Copa Del Rey) and winning all four of them. This includes a big 5-0 win against Valencia in the Copa Del Rey quarter-final and the most important home win against Rayo Vallecano at home in their last matchday. This win propelled them to 51 points, atop the La Liga table on goal difference ahead of arch-rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
Ansu Fati: A failed prodigy?
Ansu Fati, who has been left out of the latest travelling squad for the Las Palmas game, hasn't had the best time in his football career recently. After making his debut in the 2019/2020 season alongside Lionel Messi at just the age of 16, pundits had said that Ansu could be a special player in the world of football. After having a spectacular breakthrough season, shattering multiple records and also inheriting the iconic no. 10 jersey at Barcelona post Messi’s departure, Ansu Fati’s career had a major drop.
The young winger struggled through multiple injuries which kept him out for a large part of the succeeding seasons and he was even loaned out to Brighton for a season-long spell at the start of the 2023/24 season. Even after returning to Barcelona and training under guidance of new manager Hansi Flick, Ansu is yet to find his feet having played only four games in La Liga for a combined total of 125 mins.
All eyes on the next game for Hansi Flick
Even after going to the top of the table post the last matchday, Hansi Flick firmly believes that the league is far from over, and that Barcelona needs to fight and bring its best in every game. He said “We always said that we are fighting until the end and it has changed nothing” in the pre-match conference after being asked about going to the top of La Liga.
FC Barcelona who finished second in the UCL table and automatically qualified for the round of 16, will also play their next Champions League game against Benfica in the month of March.
