Lamine Yamal has been one of the stories of the season, and has been a rare bright spot for Barcelona over the last few months. The 16-year-old came up with another big performance on Friday, as his stunning second half goal secured a narrow victory over Mallorca, which elevated Xavi Hernandez’s side to second in the La Liga table (for the time being, at least).
Rightly so, Lamine Yamal earned plenty of plaudits for his performance in Montjuic, and Mallorca manger Javier Aguirre joined in, albeit in unconventional fashion. He likened the youngster to a mouse when he spoke to the media post-match, as per MD.
“The first time I saw Leo Messi play, he was 21 years ago and I needed 5 minutes to say: he’s a mouse. Lamine Yamal also plays like a mouse. He looks like that too. I know that this club works very well with young people. If it continues like this, he will bring Barcelona a lot of happiness.”
The Messi comparison has been one that has come about on several occasions throughout the season in regards to Lamine Yamal, and to Xavi’s credit, he tried to play this down so as to avoid adding more pressure on to the young man’s shoulders.
“I understand but I think they should not be compared. Anyone will lose when compared to Messi. We’re talking about the best player in the history of this sport, he should not be compared.”
There’s no doubt that Barcelona have a special talent on their hands, and the same can also be said for Pau Cubarsi, who delivered an equally impressive performance as his teenage counterpart against Mallorca. La Masia looks like being the club’s saving grace right now.
