Barcelona forward Ansu Fati is already better than Lionel Messi

There is no doubt that Lionel Messi will go down in history as one of the best players to have ever played the beautiful game of football. It came as a big blow for FC Barcelona when he was forced to leave the club this summer, but it is some consolation that they have teenage sensation Ansu Fati playing in his stead.

The 18-year-old had a breakthrough season last year before being sidelined for nearly a year due to a severe knee injury. However, Barcelona are relieved to finally have him back. Not only has he returned to action, he has arrived with such aplomb that Culers are now confident that they can have a good season despite the early setbacks.

According to Marca, Fati is performing even better than Messi did at the same point in his career. Of course, the two players debuted nearly two decades apart, but Barcelona's new number 10 is showing promising form.

Following his goal against Valencia last weekend, Fati now holds the Barca record as the player with the most goals before turning 19 with 13 goals and counting.

The previous record holder is Bojan Krkic, who scored 12 goals before his 19th birthday. Meanwhile, Messi only managed to score seven goals in that period. Fati was able to match Messi's number after playing just one season. Last year in his second season, he scored four goals before being sidelined by injury, meaning he could have potentially raked in a lot more goals.

Fati turns 19 at the end of the month, but he still has time to extend his record. All eyes will be on him on Sunday, when Barcelona face Real Madrid for the first "El Clasico" of the season. Ronald Koeman will be relieved to have the young forward fit for the match, and it remains to be seen if he will make a big impact in the highly anticipated clash.