Sevilla boss García Pimienta labels Barcelona star ‘a competitive animal’ | OneFootball

Sevilla head coach García Pimienta was keen to reveal his admiration for Barcelona star Ansu Fati, on the back of the meeting between the clubs on Sunday.

Barca and Sevilla of course locked horns late last night, the former ultimately emerging on the right side of a dominant 5-1 scoreline.

The aforementioned Ansu, meanwhile, was afforded his first start of the campaign, after Hansi Flick was forced to shake things up upon Eric García picking up an injury during the hosts’ warm-up.

Wide-man Ansu went on to endure something of a hit-and-miss outing, coming close to scoring on several occasions, only for wayward finishing to let him down.

This comes as the 21-year-old works tirelessly to recover the kind of form which once saw him labelled the next great talent of Spanish football.

One individual, though, in no two minds when it comes to the fact that Ansu possesses all of the necessary qualities to rediscover his best comes in the form of García Pimienta.

Speaking to the media on the back of the full-time whistle on Sunday, Sevilla’s headmaster was drawn on the talents of a player who was heavily rumoured to link up with his side over the summer.

And, in quotes gathered by Diario Sport, Pimienta went on to heap praise on Ansu, explaining:

“Ansu is a great footballer, we already know that, I know him very well from his time with the youth team and the reserve team and nothing comes from the misfortune of the injury, which in the end conditions him a lot. He comes in, he finds the competition that there is at Barça but I am absolutely convinced that he will return to being the great player he was before. He is a competitive animal and works hard.”

Conor Laird – GSFN