Record-breaker Fati stars in Spain rebuild

PARIS: Their youngest-ever scorer and two goals from a captain twice his age. Spain couldn’t ask for more from their rebuild.

The 17-year-old Barcelona forward Ansu Fati scored in Sunday’s 4-0 Nations League win over Ukraine and won a penalty for 34-year-old Sergio Ramos too as an influx of young talent blended well with experienced stalwarts.

Fati put Spain three goals ahead after just 31 minutes of the League A, Group 4 clash at the empty Alfredo di Stefano Stadium in Madrid with a fine individual strike that came amid a scintillating debut start for his adopted country.

Aged 17 years and 311 days, Fati, who was born in Guinea-Bissau and obtained Spanish nationality a year ago after moving to Spain when he was seven, beat the previous record held by Juan Errazquin, who scored three goals aged 18 against Switzerland in 1925.

“As soon as I was showered and changed I called my family – they are the people who have helped me reach this day and who always help me overcome challenges,” Fati said after the match.

“I’ll ask all the guys to sign this Spain shirt and it’ll go up on the wall in a special place in my house.”

Spain go top of their Nations League group by a point from Ukraine. Germany, who drew 1-1 with Switzerland on Sunday, are third.

Spain had been fortunate to avoid defeat Thursday when José Gayà salvaged a 1-1 draw with Germany, but the win over Ukraine was never in doubt. After less than two minutes Fati was fouled in the penalty area and Ramos scored the resulting spot-kick.

Ramos headed in a second goal to send the defender eighth on Spain’s all-time scorers list with 23, and Fati made Spain’s control complete with his long-range shot.

Substitute Ferran Torres completed the rout five minutes from the end.

“[Spain coach Luis Enrique] will have a difficult time picking lineups because these players are very young, now have experience, and all of them can play,” Ramos said. “The important thing is to gradually build a solid team for what lies ahead.”

GERMANY DISAPPOINT

The Nations League just isn’t Germany’s competition.

The draw with Switzerland left Germany still chasing their first win after their sixth game in Europe’s newest competition.

Ilkay Gundogan gave Germany the lead with a low drive in the 14th minute but Swiss right-back Silvan Widmer beat Bernd Leno to equalise for the hosts just before the hour mark behind closed doors in Basel.

The away side started strongly but the hosts began pouring forward soon after going behind, with Benfica forward Haris Seferovic hitting the post for the Swiss just before half-time.

Germany had Leno to thank they earned a point, with the Arsenal man making a string of good saves, in particular from a well-struck free-kick from his Gunners team-mate Granit Xhaka five minutes before the end.

Liverpool full back Neco Williams scored the winning goal in his second game for Wales in League B.

Williams struck deep into second-half injury time in a 1-0 win over Bulgaria as Wales kept their perfect record in Group 4.

They are three points ahead of Finland who earned a 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin thanks to Fredrik Jensen’s strike just seconds after coming on midway through the second half.

Russia carried on their strong start in League B with a 3-2 win over Hungary in Budapest.

The Russians have won 10 of their last 11 games and take top spot in Group 3, three points ahead of the Hungarians.

The Nations League format keeps teams of similar competitive strength together. That helped the Faroe Islands earn back-to-back wins in competitive games for the first time since 1997 by beating Andorra 1-0 to follow up a 3-2 win over Malta on Thursday.