Barcelona’s rising star Lamine Yamal has set another La Liga benchmark this weekend.
The teenager came off the bench for Barcelona in the final weeks of last season, to make his top-flight debut, aged 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days old.
That appearance made him the youngest player to ever play for the Barcelona first team but he was short of the overall La Liga record held by Luka Romero.
However, after coming off the bench in the season opening 0-0 draw at Getafe last weekend, Xavi opted to bring him into the starting XI tonight, at home to Cadiz.
1 – At 16 years and 38 days, Lamine Yamal 🇪🇸 will become the youngest player to make a LaLiga start in the 21st century, beating the previous record set by Fabrice Olinga 🇨🇲 in September 2012 (16y 112d). Treasury. pic.twitter.com/nj70OTOB3h
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) August 20, 2023
As per data from Opta, at 16 years and 38 days, Yamal is the youngest player to make a La Liga start in the 21st century, with Sanson holding the historical start record.
Sansón
Sansón has held the record of LaLiga’s youngest debutant since 1939🤯
The defender appeared for Celta Vigo aged 15 years, 8 months and 11 days in a 4-1 win against Sevilla.
He became a mainstay in the Real Oviedo defence, making 115 league appearances🔵#LLL
🧡🇪🇸⚽️ pic.twitter.com/v6QlqlVn7P— La Liga Lowdown 🧡🇪🇸⚽️ (@LaLigaLowdown) August 27, 2019
Yamal has impressed for Barcelona, on their first 45 minutes of action at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, with the scored tied at 0-0 at half time.
This kid 🙌#LaLigaHighlights pic.twitter.com/nFP4qY756x
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 20, 2023
Images via Getty Images
Had another good game today and deservedly received a great reception from the crowd looking very promising indeed and playing with no fear plenty of skill and speed which is great to see.