BARCELONA was back to winning ways in La Liga thanks to a hard-fought 3-1 victory against Valencia at Camp Nou  in the Spanish league Sunday night.

Ansu Fati, 18, made his first start for Barcelona after a long injury layoff Sunday, scoring a goal and earning his team a penalty.

Memphis Depay and Philippe Coutinho also scored for Barcelona as it moved to seventh place, five points behind leader Real Sociedad and with a game in hand.

Fati returned to action last month after being sidelined for more than 10 months because of a knee injury, coming off the bench in three straight matches before getting his first start Sunday and giving fans more hope that the club can rebuild around him after Lionel Messi’s departure to Paris Saint-Germain. He had already scored a few minutes after entering the game against Levante.

“We’ve always said we need players like him,” said Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman, who was back on the bench after a suspension of two league matches following a red card for complaining. “It was his first start and it was already decided with the doctors that he would only play for about an hour. We don’t want to overwork him in such an important week for us.”

Barcelona was coming off two defeats before the international break — 2-0 at Atletico Madrid in the league and 3-0 at Benfica in the Champions League. It had won only once in its last six matches in all competitions.

Barcelona has begun a three-game home stint that Koeman called key to getting the team back on track. It will next play a critical Champions League game against Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday and then the first “clasico” of the season against Real Madrid.

“It was a very important win, we are in a key week in the season,” Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong said. “We started it well by earning points and gaining confidence, that’s very important for the club right now.”

The loss extended Valencia’s winless streak to five matches. It dropped to ninth place in the league.

Jose Luis Gaya opened the scoring for the visitors with a powerful long-range shot five minutes into the match at the Camp Nou Stadium, but Fati equalized from outside the area in the 13th and won the penalty kick converted by Depay in the 41st.

(SD-Agencies)