Barca academy graduates stealing early-season limelight

BARCELONA — Barcelona’s 1-0 La Liga win at Villarreal on Sunday was engineered by Lionel Messi but it was not the four-time World Player of the Year but yet another promising teenager from the club’s famed academy who scored the winner. Barca struggled to break down a determined Villarreal side at the Madrigal but got the breakthrough eight minutes from time when 19-year-old substitute Sandro Ramirez, making his official debut, turned a Messi centre into the net from close range. Ramirez’s effort came after fellow academy graduate Munir el Haddadi, also 19 and also making his first official appearance, struck in the 3-0 opening day victory at home to Elche. Their success appears to confirm that new coach Luis Enrique’s strategy of deploying Barca-trained youngsters is working well in the early stages of the campaign.