At 17, the prodigy of FC Barcelona Lamine Yamal illuminated the semi-final go to the Champions League against Inter. To the point of further fueling analogy with Lionel Messi.
“I do not compare myself to anyone, much less to Messi,” said Yamal at a press conference before scoring a new goal and performing a masterful performance during the crazy duel against the Nerazzuri (3-3) on Wednesday. But the blows of the Catalan virtuoso, already European champion with Spain last summer, are linked at such a speed that the comparison becomes inevitable with Messi, an early talent formed in the “Masia” too and left -wing.
At the same age, the ocuple Ballon d’Or had however played only a handful of minutes in the Blaugrana jersey with the professionals. Yamal, for his 100th match on Wednesday, left the world of mouth football, with a magic solo number, to bring back his team, led 2-0, in the game.
“It was a” messiac “moment, it was like watching Messi,” said Liverpool Jamie Carragher’s ex-defenseman on CBS. “He’s the best player in the world,” said Inter Alessandro Bastoni, “a genius”, for Barça coach, the German Hansi Flick. “Yamal is clearly a phenomenon as it may be born every 50 years. I had never seen such a talent before,” added the opposing coach Simone Inzaghi.
“What always surprises me in football is that we always say that it is impossible that someone is better, or can be better, that Ronaldo and Messi, and in my time Pelé and Maradona, Zidane, R9 (Red: Brazilian Ronaldo) or other. And then Lamine Yamal arrives,” said the ex-attacker of the French team Thierry Henry. “It’s just crazy what he’s doing!”
Golden ball at 17?
There is a bit of Messi, his idol and his model, in this gestures and this ability to eliminate effortlessly, and rely on his left paw to seek the strike or drop a caviar at one of his partners. Or maybe a little more. “Today, at Yamal, I saw everything. I saw Messi, Neymar and even Ronaldinho,” assured the ex-playmaker of OM and Arsenal Samir Nasri, consultant for Canal+.
An explosive cocktail, and almost impossible to counter for any defense, even that for Nerazzuri, the best in competition, which had only conceded five goals in ten matches so far.
Having become the youngest player to score in a semi-final of the Champions League, dethroning Kylian Mbappé with almost a year, the young Catalan winger continues to break all the precocity records within his reach.
Even if he faces a harsh competition, in his own team (Raphinha, Pedri …) and with his opponents (Dembélé), the winner of the Kopa Trophy for Best World Hope and the Laureus Prize for the Revelation of the Year 2024, asserts himself, too, as a legitimate candidate in the Ballon d’Or.
For this, Yamal, the youngest player to win a major title – the Euro 2024 – in selection, in front of the Pelé legend, repels the limits a little more on Tuesday to Milan, to send his training club to the final. And prove that he is already ready to reign.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ATS / AFP
