In his rookie season for the record books, Pete Alonso leads the majors with 47 home runs, shattering the New York Mets' team record of 41, and he has a chance to break Aaron Judge's rookie mark of 52. He ranks in the top 10 in the majors in RBIs and second with nine home runs in "late and close" situations, has the third hardest-hit ball of the season at 118.3 mph, has hit better against winning teams (.987 OPS) than losing teams (.871 OPS) and has even survived getting hit by 20 pitches.
In a Mets season typically full of injuries and various soap opera subplots, Alonso has been the constant: He's been mashing all year long.
Those are just the numbers. Alonso's impact for the Mets goes beyond the home runs hit and the runs driven in. Mets broadcaster Ron Darling put it perfectly the other day in describing how Alonso has become the face of the franchise: "Some people come to New York and play for the New York baseball team, and some become New Yorkers."
Alonso has not only successfully navigated major league pitching, but he's successfully navigated New York like few players before him. That's not an easy task. I don't always completely buy into the "It's tougher to play in New York (or Boston) than other cities," but there's something to the mantra. There's more media and a portion of that media can be unrelentingly critical even when things are going right. The fans are passionate, but also quick to turn on you when things go wrong.
Like Mike Piazza, however, Alonso simply has that "it" factor, that larger-than-life personality. He has embraced New York and Mets fans have embraced him. Yes, 47 home runs goes a long way to winning over the fans, but what's not to love?
The other day to honor the 9/11 anniversary, Alonso had petitioned MLB to let the Mets wear first responder caps during the game, like they had back in 2001 in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. When MLB denied the request, Alonso wore special first responder cleats -- and then gave the entire team a pair:
Pete Alonso bought the entire team commemorative 9/11 cleats for last night's game. Just give this man the C already! #LGM#LFGMpic.twitter.com/sBuwyMgty8
— We Gotta Believe Podcast (Weds, iTunes & Spotify) (@GottaBelievePod) September 12, 2019
"This is a gift from me to show my appreciation for you guys, because for me this is an awesome year, an awesome experience, and these guys have been really awesome, so it's a gift," Alonso said. "They can keep them, they can donate them. They're really cool shoes."
The next day, mired in a mini-slump, he shaved his new mustache in the middle of the game:
Then there was the celebration on Sept. 6, when Alonso drew a bases-loaded walk-off walk to give the Mets a 5-4 victory over the Phillies. Mets teammates responded by ripping off his jersey, which didn't prevent Alonso from doing a shirtless postgame interview:
And that's just September. Back in July, he ensured a lifetime bond with Mets fans with this tweet, dropping an extra character in the "LGM" -- Let's Go Mets! -- slogan:
Alonso is a guy who loves the spotlight, loves the roar of the crowd and appreciates his good fortune. He won the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game, winning a $1 million bonus that is nearly double his 2019 rookie salary of $550,000, and wasn't shy in expressing his emotion in victory. "Oh my god, that was a blast. I'm going to remember that the rest of my life," he said. "This means so much." He then donated 5% of his winnings to the Wounded Warrior Project -- both his grandfathers served in the military -- and 5% to Tunnel for Towers, a foundation that benefits first responders.
Above all, he loves the game -- as he so often expresses on the field, a love that looks and feels pure. His enthusiasm is authentic.
"I just love hitting," he told me back in April, when he won a permanent spot in the Mets' lineup by hitting nine home runs. "It's something I've worked on a lot, but also it's something I really, really enjoy. I mean, it's my favorite hobby. It's a job now, but for me, I love it."
What has made him so good? Above all, of course, there is the raw strength that has earned him the "Polar Bear" nickname. Look at this swing from earlier in the season against the Marlins:
Not exactly your picture-perfect point of balance upon contact, right? That ball went 418 feet over the center-field fence.
Maybe the most impressive thing about Alonso's season: He has seen the lowest percentages of pitches in the strike zone of any hitter in the majors, just ahead of Josh Bell and Christian Yelich. He quickly earned the respect of his opponents. A few other notes on his impressive offensive season:
• While he's trying to bash every pitch a country mile, he's not just a wild slugger without a plan. Yes, he crushes when pitchers fall behind in the count: .350/.522/.790 (through Friday). That's the 39th-highest OPS in the majors. When he falls behind, however, he does pretty well too, hitting .216/.225/.491 in pitchers' counts, the 13th-best OPS in the majors.
• Back in May, he had a terrible strikeout-to-walk ratio of 31-to-4. It appeared pitchers had found some potential holes in his game. He made some adjustments, toned down the aggressiveness, and has 95 strikeouts and 49 walks since then, a 2-to-1 ratio instead of 8-to-1.
• He obviously has some swing-and-miss in his game -- who doesn't these days -- but his overall strikeout rate of 25.6% isn't much higher than the MLB average of 22.8%.
• He loves the center of the diamond. His 19 home runs to center field leads the majors (Mike Trout is second with 17).
If there's one area of improvement for Alonso, it's cutting down on his chase rate. At 31%, he's above the league average of 28.8%. As he sees a steady of diet of sliders and curveballs, he should learn to lay off some of those pitches and either see a higher walk rate or see more fastballs that he might pummel.
For now, it's about getting into one final hot streak these last two weeks. The Mets have a tough path to the wild card, but if anyone can carry them to the postseason, it's the big kid with the big heart and the big swing.
Jamie Ritchie will miss Scotland's World Cup opener with Ireland despite joining up with the squad in Japan.
The forward belatedly joined his team-mates in Nagasaki after suffering a broken cheekbone against Georgia.
Edinburgh flanker Ritchie, 23, has since had a titanium plate inserted.
"We know some players can come back in less time than that, but we're going to aim for the Samoa game rather than Ireland," said Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend.
Ritchie's club-mate Magnus Bradbury, who was called up as a precautionary back-up, remains in Japan for now.
Townsend said: "Jamie had surgery on Monday, so he joined us on Thursday. He's still recovering from the operation and also jetlag.
"We expect him to resume training next week. He's unlikely to be available for the Ireland game but he will be back in full training after that."
Townsend was left with fitness concerns over five players after that 36-9 triumph over Georgia in the Dark Blues' World Cup send-off.
Ritchie was the most serious but there were also worries for Blair Kinghorn and Ben Toolis after both suffered head knocks, while forwards Blade Thomson and Jonny Gray limped off with hamstring problems.
There was further anxiety when prop Allan Dell later reported a hamstring issue of his own, but Townsend said the fact all six of his injury doubts are now set to play a part in the tournament is "a huge boost".
Pick your all-time World Cup XV
Choose the best Rugby World Cup team of all time from the players below.
Poor discipline could be the only "chink" in England's chances of winning the Rugby World Cup, says former head coach Sir Clive Woodward.
Woodward guided England to World Cup glory in 2003 and says they can emulate that achievement in Japan - if they can keep 15 men on the pitch.
He believes some players' "track records" could prove costly.
Eddie Jones' England play Tonga in their tournament opener in Sapporo next Sunday (11:15 BST).
They then meet the United States before tougher examinations against Argentina and France complete their group fixtures.
"There's many strengths," Woodward told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek on Sunday. "They've got this very powerful team.
"This is what I call an X-factor team - but quite a few of the starting XV have got a track record of losing it in a game when under pressure.
"There's been a lot of focus on the rules regarding neck-high tackles. If you're playing France and Argentina, top teams, and get a guy sent off then the chance of winning that game is going to be very difficult.
"You need every single player to play under pressure and play within the laws of the game."
Australian Jones replaced Stuart Lancaster as head coach after hosts England were knocked out at the group stage of the 2015 World Cup.
Woodward, who led the side from 1997-2004, is confident they will reach the final on 2 November in Yokohama but says they must set the pace in matches.
"Eddie came into the job thinking English rugby is tough and combustible, as he's called it," said the 63-year-old.
"He's built an England team around how he saw England playing in the past. They are tough and very aggressive. The key thing for me is they've got to play quick.
"It doesn't matter how tough and physical you are, if you play slowly you are not going to win. If they can play at a real pace they have got every chance."
JAMAICA, Va. – Brandon Overton is $50,000 richer after winning the FASTRAK World Championship for crate dirt late models on Saturday night at Virginia Motor Speedway.
Making a rare appearance in a crate late model, had the dominant car most of the weekend. Finishes of first and second in his heat races gave him a front row starting position, which he happily took advantage of.
He overtook polesitter Logan Roberson early in the race and then held off Ross Bailes during several restarts to take the checkered flag in the 75-lap feature.
Bailes ended up second, followed by Trent Ivey, Justin Williams and Roberson.
The finish:
Brandon Overton, Ross Bailes, Trent Ivey, Justin Williams, Logan Roberson, Michael Brown, Mark Whitener, Dillon Brown, Ches Chester, Kyle Lukon, Tyler Bare, Jimmy Sharpe Jr., Alex Ferree, Brett Hamm, Corey Dunn, Christian Hanger, Jason Fitzgerald, Corey Almond, Kyle Lear, Dale Hollidge, Donnie Dotson, Forrest Trent, Jensen Ford, Kyle Hardy, Tyler Carpenter, Russell Erwin, Clay Harris, Benji Hicks.
CALISTOGA, Calif. — David Gravel drove his Jason Johnson Racing sprint car to his eighth World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory of the season during Saturday night’s Wine Country Outlaw Showdown at Calistoga Speedway.
“Feels good to get another win,” Gravel said. “I feel like we could have won last night (at Stockton Dirt Track). To let that slip away, it feels good to get a win.”
Gravel dominated the night, but Californian Brad Sweet, looking to close the points gap between he and points leader Donny Schatz, nearly stole the victory
The two drivers started the night in polar opposite scenarios. Sweet qualified 17th out of 22 cars. Gravel set quick time for the 15th time this season and set a track record for Calistoga Speedway with a time of 15.672 seconds.
Both drivers went on to finished second in their Drydene Heat race. However, Gravel fell from first to second and Sweet charged from sixth to second. Their performance put them both in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, which Gravel drew the pole for and then went on to win.
At the start of the 25-lap feature, Gravel launched to the lead and Sweet – who started third – took second from Logan Schuchart. Riding the high line of the half-mile track, Gravel gapped Sweet by close to half a track.
On lap five that changed. Gravel had to wait on the throttle for the slower car of Stephan Ingraham blocking his line, killing his momentum. That allowed Sweet to cut Gravel’s lead in half. After they crossed the line for lap seven, Sweet threw a slide job at Gravel going into turn one. He rocketed underneath the Mesilla Valley Transportation No. 41 car and put his NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 car in the lead by turn two.
“I got to the 93 car (of Ingraham) at a bad spot and tried to slid him, it was a dumb mistake on my part,” Gravel said. “I deserved to lose the lead there. Racing all of these races, you should know better than that.”
Gravel was able to still exit the corner better than Sweet, though. He hammered the throttle off the turn with the confidence his rear tires would hold on to every inch of the clay surface. They did and he powered back by Sweet going into turn three.
However, Gravel got out of shape on corner entrance, slowing his pace. Sweet was directly behind him and also had to slow to avoid running into Gravel. Before Sweet could attempt a run underneath him on the exit of turn four, a caution came out for Shane Stewart slowing on track.
Gravel launched back to the lead with Sweet behind him on the restart. Less than 10 laps later, Gravel found himself back on Ingraham’s bumper. Back to having to slow his momentum. And back to having to worry about Sweet breathing down his neck.
Before Sweet could strike again, another caution came out. This time for Chase Johnson having motor issues that resulted in a burst of flames underneath his car, which extinguished by the time he stopped the car.
“It’s one of those things, man, it’s part of dirt-track racing, you’ve got to be good in lapped traffic and luckily we were,” Gravel said.
Lined up single file for the restart with eight laps to go, Gravel bested Sweet and third-place Schuchart on the start pulling away by several car lengths before the flag stand.
With clean air in front of him and no lap traffic to deal with, Gravel put the cap on his dominating night by leading all 25 laps and winning his first race at Calistoga Speedway.
Sweet had to settle for second but narrowed Schatz’s point lead to 10 markers.
“The cautions just kind of came at the wrong time for us,” Sweet said. “He would get out front with clean air and we could stay a half straightaway behind. You needed lap traffic to break his pace… We’ll take it after our qualifying effort. It’s a good rebound for our NAPA Auto Parts car. We’ve got a big picture going on here.”
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Aaron Reutzel added another handsome payday to his stellar season, winning Saturday night’s Dean Knittel Memorial for the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 sprint cars at Atomic Speedway.
Nearly sweeping the entire evening program, Reutzel earned his $12,554 score in fantastic fashion, ultimately leading all 30 circuits while holding off Cole Duncan.
The victory bumped Reutzel’s All Star season win total to 13, now 22 on his career
“This is really cool,” Reutzel said in victory lane, driver of the Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports/Folkens Brothers Trucking/Fischer Body Shop/Hollywood Blasting and Coating/No. 87 sprint car. “Hats off to the entire Knittel Family for putting up this kind of money for us to race for. From one driver to the next, we really appreciate it.”
Although Reutzel was on the point for all 30 laps, Duncan did everything he could to drive around the current All Star Circuit of Champions point leader.
A quick, but abrasive racing surface did make things difficult for Duncan, but on more than one occasion, the local favorite put himself in position to capitalize.
The main event’s second and final caution flag set up Duncan’s eventual late-race surge for the lead. Helping set Duncan’s stage, traffic entered the picture on lap 18 ultimately slowing Reutzel’s pace around the middle and top of the speedway.
By lap 21, Duncan was all over the back bumper of Reutzel, chasing the Texan as the duo started to enter slower traffic. Despite keeping pace with the defending All Star champion for the next three circuits, Reutzel soon discovered another gear, eventually finding a way to put a lapped car between himself and Duncan.
The trend continued on lap 26 when Reutzel found his way around another slower car, now separating himself from Duncan with two lappers. By the checkered flag, Reutzel’s command was nearly two seconds.
“I felt like I was good enough to win the last two nights, but I kinda gave them away,” Reutzel continued. “I got a phone call from the guys at Fischer Body Shop today and they were kinda giving me a hard time. I wanted to make sure I didn’t give this one up.”
Duncan held on to finish second, followed by Jimmy Stinson, Chad Kemenah and Dale Blaney.
HAUBSTADT, Ind. — Kyle Cummins is seven-for-seven at Tri-State Speedway this season.
The Indiana sprint car driver’s latest victory came in Saturday night’s Haubstadt Hustler for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the Brandeis Midwest Sprint Car Series.
Cummins banked $10,000 for winning the 40-lap event.
Despite the blistering run of success, which now includes three USAC victories in 2019, Cummins was cautious to call his shot ala Babe Ruth entering the night.
“I felt like after winning this many in a row here, I was bound to lose because everything’s been going right and we really haven’t had a real bad night,” Cummins admitted. “Throughout a whole season, the more good nights you have, the bad ones are right around the corner.”
Cummins took the early lead, but fell back to second when point leader C.J. Leary took control on the third lap.
Traffic was thick entering the 10th lap for Leary as he swung high and dove low to split his way to the nearest escape route away from Cummins, but to no avail, as his lead diminished and Cummins was prime to strike on the 12th lap when Leary got himself sideways in the middle of turns three and four.
The evening’s lone red flag arrived on the 16th lap when fast qualifier and fourth-running Justin Grant flipped exiting turn four.
The lapped car of Kevin Thomas Jr. separated Cummins and Leary on the lap-17 restart. Leary disposed of Thomas quickly around the top in turn one, but Cummins had scooted away to a one second advantage by that point, forcing Leary into catchup mode right off the bat.
Just after halfway, Cummins was rapidly approaching lapped traffic, allowing Tyler Courtney to rip by Leary for second, then carve deeply into Cummins’ advantage, whittling the interval down to a quarter of a second.
On the 27th lap, Cummins met the side-by-side duo of Doug Christie and Brian Karraker, both on the cusp of being put a lap down while battling for position. Cummins was briefly stifled behind the pair before opting for the top at the entry of turn three with Courtney now less than a car length off Cummins’ rear bumper.
Lapped traffic played a key role on the quarter-mile track.
“One time I thought (a car in front of me) had spun out,” Cummins remembered. “I’m not sure who it was, but I was crossed up as much as I could be, and I thought they had spun out. I really had to backpedal, and when I came off the corner there, I thought, ‘man, I’m really scrubbing off some speed.’ I didn’t know where they were running, so I decided to get away from the bottom and run a couple laps around the top. Then, we got to the next group and they were running the top. It seemed like if you pressured them a little bit, they would slide up. I didn’t feel like (Courtney) was going to pass around the top if they were there too.”
Courtney tried with all his might, riding high into turn one and diamonding off two to get a run on Cummins. Cummins wasn’t about to give Courtney an open door to the front as the defending USAC Sprint champ harassed Cummins, doing everything but passing the new all-time winningest MSCS driver with the laps dwindling.
With three laps to go, heartbreak befell fourth-running Jason McDougal who slowed to a stop in turn two after charging from his 21st starting position. For Cummins, though, it was a godsend to get to step out of the line of traffic for good for the final dash to the finish.
From there, Cummins buttoned up his sixth USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victory, four of which have come at Tri-State Speedway, by a margin of 0.879 seconds over Courtney.
Leary, Kendall Ruble and Windom rounded out the top five.
KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Jimmy Owens became just the second driver in the history of the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals to win the $40,000 event in back-to-back years Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway.
Owens joins fellow Volunteer State driver Mike Marlar as the only drivers in the 16-year-history of the crown jewel event to win in consecutive years.
Owens took the lead from Brandon Sheppard on lap 86 and held off one final charge from Sheppard exiting turn four to take the win.
Sheppard finished in second with Hudson O’Neal charging from the back after making two pit stops to Owens and Sheppard on the podium.
Devin Moran, in his first start in the Knoxville finale, finished in fourth with Kyle Bronson coming from his 20th starting position to round out the top five.
Polesitter Shane Clanton grabbed the lead at the start of the event with fellow front-row starter Darrell Lanigan running in second. Those two ran 1-2 for the first 44 laps of the race until Sheppard was able to get by Lanigan after a lap-44 caution flag.
Clanton led the first 55 circuits of the race until a restart on lap 56 allowed Chris Madden to become the first car to lead other than Clanton. Madden was seeking his first Knoxville win after being absent from the speedway for nearly twelve years.
Once in front, Madden started to pull away from Clanton. Clanton slowed on lap 72 with a broken axle, bringing his night to an end. On the restart, Sheppard became the third different leader of the race as he zipped around the top to take over the lead from Madden.
Like Madden did before him, Sheppard was pulling away from the field. However, the race for the top spot was far from over. Owens took second on lap 80 from Madden in swift fashion but was still several car lengths behind Sheppard. With 20 laps remaining, Owens found the momentum he was looking for, and with that rally he began slicing into Sheppard’s lead.
The laps were winding down in rapid-fire fashion, and Owens was ready to pounce. He darted under Sheppard with fourteen laps to go and wrestled the lead away from the fellow Rocket Chassis driver. Sheppard was not done though.
Owens had to battle traffic in front of him and Sheppard was able to make one last-lap ditch effort to steal the win from Owens, but came up just short at the finish line.
Jimmy Owens (center) shared the podium with Brandon Sheppard and Hudson O’Neal. (LOLMDS photo)
Owens started 18th and made history in event as no other driver has ever started that deep in the pack and managed a victory.
“We had a really good car. We had to be married to that top way more than I wanted to, but our tires fired up and we got going really well,” Owens said. “We chased Sheppard down in lapped traffic and we had one opportunity to get by him, so we took it the best we could. On that last lap I could hear him [Sheppard]. I didn’t know if he was above me or below me. I figured if he was below me, he couldn’t get around me so I just scooted down the track a little bit to kill his line coming off of turn four and I thought, well heck if it’s going to be a drag-race, maybe we can beat him to the line.”
Sheppard once again felt the disappointment of coming up just short of his and car owner Mark Richards’ first win at Knoxville.
“That was the most fun I have had in a race car in a while,” he said. “Jimmy did a heck of a job and my hat is off to him. He was there when he needed to be. There were a few things during the race that made me run harder than I wanted to. I am just disappointed; we had a really fast race car.”
Hudson O’Neal came home with his best career Knoxville Nationals finish.
“We were somewhere around 15th-20th place for most of the race. We made a pit-stop before the fuel-stop and I think it really brought the car to life. It definitely got the car a whole lot better because it was more maneuverable. I had some good restarts, and I think on that last one, we drove past four cars through the middle. Everything has to line up to drive from the back like that.”
The finish:
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 20, Jimmy Owens, Newport, TN (18); 2. 1s, Brandon Sheppard, New Berlin, IL (9); 3. 71, Hudson O’Neal, Morgantown, IN (16); 4. 1D, Devin Moran, Dresden, OH (17); 5. 40B, Kyle Bronson, Brandon, FL (20); 6. 0m, Chris Madden, Gray Court, SC (4); 7. 2s, Stormy Scott, Las Cruces, NM (23); 8. 7w, Ricky Weiss, Headingley, MB, Can. (3); 9. 1, Earl Pearson Jr., Hilliard, FL (15); 10. 99JR, Frank Heckenast Jr., Franfort, IL (21); 11. 32s, Chris Simpson, Oxford, IA (12); 12. 29, Darrell Lanigan, Union, KY (2); 13. 49, Jonathan Davenport, Pelzer, SC (24); 14. 0, Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, TN (10); 15. 1T, Tyler Erb, St. Mary’s, OH (5); 16. 50, Shanon Buckingham, Morristown, TN (22); 17. 28, Dennis Erb Jr., Carpentersville, IL (14); 18. 16T, Tyler Bruening, Decorah, IA (8); 19. Chase Junghans (28); 20. Brian Birkhofer (25); 21. 25, Shane Clanton, Zebulon, GA (1); 22. 32P, Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, IL (19); 23. Shannon Babb (27); 24. 20RT, Ricky Thornton Jr., Adel, IA (6); 25. 14, Josh Richards, Shinnston, WV (11); 26. 5, Don O’Neal, Martinsville, IN (7); 27. Tim McCreadie (26); 28. Billy Moyer (30); 29. 1C, Chad Simpson, Mt. Vernon, IA (13); 30. Billy Moyer Jr. (29). Lap Leaders: Clanton 1-55, Madden 56-72, Sheppard 73-85, Owens 86-100.
GLENEAGLES, Scotland – If Lexi Thompson is going to win her singles match and earn her first full point of this Solheim Cup, she’s going to have to battle more than opponent Georgia Hall.
According to Golf Channel’s Jerry Foltz, Thompson tweaked her back on the range Sunday morning at Gleneagles. Thompson’s agent, Bobby Kreusler, told Golf Channel that Thompson’s back was in “full spasm,” adding that Thompson wasn’t sure if she’d be able to play – or finish.
Thompson was able to tee off in her 12:04 p.m. loca-time match, but caddie Benji Thompson had to tee the ball up for her. Lexi was noticeably uncomfortable as she bent down to read her birdie putt on the first hole, grabbing her back in the process.
However, Thompson did win the first hole against Hall with par and hit a long drive at the par-5 second to set up a hole-tying birdie.
Thompson played in three of the first four sessions, earning half-points in both fourball matches.
Lionel Messi handed Barcelona a fitness boost on Sunday as he returned to full training ahead of Tuesday's Champions League opener against Borussia Dortmund in Germany, a source has told ESPN FC.
The source also revealed that Messi took part in a mini-game with his teammates on Friday, too. The Argentine wasn't present for the 15 minutes which were open to the media, but did emerge afterwards as he stepped up his recovery from a calf injury.
Messi, 32, injured his calf in his first training session of preseason on Aug. 5, ruling him out of the club's tour of the United States. Barca initially expected him to be out for three weeks but he has still not returned and has not featured in any of their four league games to date.
As Ernesto Valverde said on Friday, he's unlikely to be rushed back or risked against Dortmund, but he is in line to make his first appearance of the season against Granada next Saturday.
However, he could still travel to Germany this week -- although that doesn't mean he will play. Barca fly to Dortmund on Monday, with the squad expected to be announced by Valverde as close to their flight as possible.
Ousmane Dembele is also closing in on a return to action. The France forward did some light training with his teammates on Sunday but is still a week or so away from a first-team comeback.
With Messi, Dembele and Suarez all nearing full fitness, Valverde faces a potential selection headache down the line given how well their deputies have done while they've been injured.
He scored one and created another inside the first seven minutes as he made his first start for the club, prompting Valverde to say Barcelona must try and "control the hype" which is now surrounding the teenager.
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