Hope is said Ansu

At Barça these days, hope is called Ansu Fati. It cannot be otherwise for two reasons. To begin with, the institution is in a very delicate situation that makes us think of valley years, difficult to always carry on the great transatlantic football boats. To continue, Ansu has been a machine to pulverize records of precocity, taking ahead if it was necessary to Leo Messi. That cocktail makes him the Barça illusion of the future.

Ansu trained on Tuesday with his teammates for the first time after being injured on November 7 in a league game against Betis. It will possibly be the penalty that he never wanted to force in his career. Mandi entered her and her meniscus cracked in a serendipitous action that required surgery two days later. Chen the meniscus in his left knee was injured, the normally conservative club announced a four-month loss. But something went wrong with the operation. On January 4, he underwent a second arthroscopy when the previous one did not heal. Nor was it a solution. After asking the advice of doctors Bernard Cottet, in Lyon, and Antonio Maestro, in Gijón, a third operation should have solved the problem. But it was not like that. Ansu had to turn to doctor José Carlos Pinto Noronha, doctor of the Portuguese Federation and Cristiano Ronaldo. This time, after a recovery halfway between Portugal and Madrid, Ansu, who missed the European Championship and Games, finally had a good feeling and has seen his left knee return to be suitable for professional football.

Tough months for Ansu, who has had to work in the dark when the spotlight was brightest. The player born in Bissau on October 31, 2002, was breaking records for precociousness. Not only those of Messi at Barça. Also those of the club, international competitions and the National Team. Ansu had become the youngest scorer in the history of Barça with his goal against Osasuna at 16 years and 304 days. But it was more. The Hispano-Guinean is also, to this day, the youngest scorer in the history of the Champions League (goal against Inter at 17 years and 40 days). His work at Barça quickly led him to the National Team. At 17 years and 311 days, Luis Enrique gave him the opportunity against Germany and smashed a record that had almost a century to become the youngest scorer in the history of Spain.

Almost ten months later, Ansu dresses short to train with the group. His return is estimated for after the break, either against Sevilla or in the first game of the group stage of the Champions League. It is not a normal comeback. Barça fans are orphaned of idols. Ansu is a face that is exciting. Fresh, young, from La Masia. And with a potential that nobody knows, probably not even him. Doing an exercise of faith for the Ansu era is what we have to do at Barça.