The worry that Lamine Yamal provokes in defenders when he will get the ball on Barcelona’s proper flank has inevitably conjured up comparisons to a younger, floppy-haired Lionel Messi.
Now, Barcelona 17-year-old star will face one of many only a few groups that Messi by no means might rating in opposition to when Inter Milan visits on Wednesday within the opening recreation of their Champions League semifinal.
However let the file state that Yamal needs nothing do to with that Messi model 2.0 speak. Nor does he suppose Inter supposedly had Messi discovered — even when he certain wish to rating in opposition to the Italian aspect and assist Barcelona attain its first European closing in a decade.
“I don’t need to be in comparison with any participant, a lot much less Messi. He’s the very best on this planet,” Yamal mentioned Tuesday at Barcelona’s coaching grounds throughout his first information convention for the membership, throughout one among his largest weeks as a participant.
“So what if Messi by no means scored in opposition to Inter? He scored in opposition to so many groups, and I certain hope I can rating tomorrow,” Yamal mentioned concerning the Barcelona nice who as soon as held him in his arms as a child.
Sporting his new dyed blond hairdo, {the teenager} who has emerged as arguably the highest younger expertise in international soccer mentioned that he was solely targeted on making an attempt to assist his workforce on its quest for a treble of titles.
100 video games in burgundy-and-blue
Yamal nonetheless has greater than two months earlier than turning 18, however the Inter recreation shall be his a hundredth recreation for Barcelona’s senior workforce.
“Not everybody can play that many video games at age 18, so I’m happy with that,” he mentioned, including that the jitters he used to really feel when he began within the elite had been now gone.
The Champions League semifinal is his largest match up to now for Barcelona, proper up there with the Copa del Rey closing that Yamal helped Barcelona win in opposition to Actual Madrid on Saturday. Yamal delivered two assists in that clasico thriller to arrange Pedri González’s opener and Ferran Torres’ clutch equalizer to ship it into further time, the place Barcelona got here out on high 3-2.
Throughout that comeback win, Yamal mentioned he instructed a teammate that it did not matter what number of targets Madrid scored, since “they cannot hold with us this season.”
Yamal will now take that very same swagger with him in opposition to one of many high defenses in Europe; Inter has stored a Champions League-leading eight clear sheets this marketing campaign.
Barcelona boasts the highest assault with 37 targets scored, in comparison with simply 19 for Inter. Yamal has notched 4 of these whereas passing for teammates so as to add one other 4.
“Everybody is aware of that Inter is a good defensive workforce and good on the counter,” Yamal mentioned. “We must be good with the ball and play like we all know as a workforce.”
The winner of the the two-match sequence will face both Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal in Munich on Might 31.
Age is barely a quantity
Yamal took Barcelona by storm final season when he swept up data, together with for youngest scorer in La Liga, at age 16. His increase continued final summer time when he grew to become the youngest scorer within the historical past of the European Championship, curling within the objective of the match within the semifinals in opposition to France earlier than Spain received the ultimate over England on his seventeenth birthday.
He has stored it up this season for Barcelona. His 14 targets and 24 assists throughout all competitions even have Barcelona closing in on the La Liga title.
And simply when it appeared like there have been no extra data left, he went and have become the youngest participant to attain in a clasico.
Yamal is taking his fast rise in stride, brushing apart questions that it might all be occurring too quick, at too younger an age.
“I feel soccer isn’t about age, it’s about expertise and mentality of every participant,” he mentioned. “Age is only a quantity.”
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