(Reuters) – Spain coach Luis Enrique confirmed that Ansu Fati will start in their friendly against Jordan in Amman on Thursday, the team’s last match before they travel to Qatar for the World Cup.
Fati was Luis Enrique’s biggest question mark when deciding his 26-man World Cup squad, as the Barcelona forward is fighting his way back from four surgeries to repair a knee injury suffered in November, 2020.
“I see him better, much better than the last time he came. Tomorrow he will play from the start and I hope he plays the full 90 minutes,” Luis Enrique told a news conference in Amman on Wednesday.
“I would appreciate if we started to stop referring to Ansu (Fati) as a player who has overcome an injury.
“I have already told him. A professional player gets injured and recovers. What you have to recover after that is his level of play. Watching the workouts, he has it.”
Fati, now 20, made his international debut in 2020 at 17 and in his second game became the youngest player to score for Spain, breaking a record held since 1925 by Juan Errazquien.
He came through the youth system at the Catalan club and burst onto the scene for Barcelona at 16, when he became the second youngest player in LaLiga history.
He quickly established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in the world, becoming the youngest player to score in the Champions League among other accomplishments.
Spain’s World Cup opener is against Costa Rica on Nov. 23 and they also face Germany and Japan in Group E.
“The conclusions I will draw from this game against Jordan are important and the players know it,” Luis Enrique said.
“We are going to take the game very seriously. Our objective is clear: to play seven games in Qatar.”
However, Luis Enrique won’t take any risks with players coming back from injuries like Atletico Madrid duo Marcos Llorente and Alvaro Morata and Valencia defender Hugo Guillamón.
“If I had to play the first game of the World Cup tomorrow, they would be there to play. In training, I see them at a remarkably-high level, almost outstanding. But there’s no point in taking risks right now,” Luis Enrique said.
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas, editing by Ed Osmond)
