16-year-old Barcelona prodigy makes promising first-team debut against UD Barbastro | OneFootball

FC Barcelona managed to beat UD Barbastro rather convincingly in the Round of 32 Copa del Rey clash, running 4-0 winners on the night. It was a rather trying pitch to play football on and Hansi Flick’s team will be relieved to come out from this game unscathed.

Considering the Catalan club’s luck with injuries, the fact that they finished the game without issues is a huge boost. For the first time in ages, Hansi Flick is set to have nearly a full-strength squad at his disposal, and he’ll be eager to make the most of this opportunity.

However, one concern that the German coach is dealing with is the registration issues surrounding Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor. Thus, they could not feature in the game last night but as they say, it was someone else’s opportunity.

As revealed by SPORT, Toni Fernández became the second youngest player to make his first team debut after, of course, Lamine Yamal, coming on in the 81st minute replacing Pablo Torre and had a very impressive cameo.

The younger of the Fernández cousins, both of whom are considered potential first-team players in the near future, Toni, in particular, earned a much-deserved debut after missing the past few months due to injury.

The teenager demonstrates the intelligence typically associated with a La Masia player and could be the ideal alternative to Lamine Yamal on the right wing. In his brief 10-minute cameo last night, he already displayed impressive vision with some clever passes. He also took charge of set-pieces and should have come away with at least one assist.

Toni might not be an electric dribbler like Lamine but that said, the 16-year-old Barcelona prodigy has what it takes to play for the first team, even right now. It is quite evident that Hansi Flick likes what he sees from the player and the teenager should get more chances in the coming months.

Let’s wait and see how the future plays out for Toni and if he becomes a regular fixture in the first team going forward. Lamine needs to be rotated and managed and Toni could help in this regard. Only time will tell how it plays out.