Lamine Yamal was breaking ankles & scoring Messi-esque worldies at 13
As if a debut for Barcelona’s first team at 15 wasn’t enough, footage of a 13-year-old Lamine Yamal has surfaced and it’s frankly obscene how good at football he is.
The teenager dominated headlines across European football this weekend after he became the youngest debutant in Barcelona history, coming on as a substitute for Xavi’s side in a 4-0 win at home to Real Betis.
Yamal’s first steps onto the famed Nou Camp field will now be remembered forever, regardless of which direction his career goes in from this point, with him etching a huge piece of history into the Barcelona story.
Naturally, pressure will pile onto the shoulders of the teenager this point, and while time is absolutely on his side, we don’t believe Yamal will exactly need too long to become acclimatised with life at senior level, judging by a clip that has serviced from his days at under-13 level.
‘Those days’ as if we’re harking back to a time long before the present day, years and years into the past, deep into the archive to scout out the baby steps of a future great. The reality is we’ve only gone back three seasons.
Imagine that? Casually strutting your stuff playing under-13 academy football, cracking on with your life as normal before a global pandemic hits.
Suddenly, three years have passed by, you’re two years older, still not legally allowed to drive a car, buy alcohol or even buy the latest instalment of Call of Duty, but what you can do is say you’ve made your full Barcelona debut at the Camp Nou.
When you watch the clip that has surfaced, though, it becomes quite clear why Yamal has made such big strides in such a short space of time.
Footage shows the Spaniard picking up a loose ball on the edge of the 18-yard box, chopping one opponent into oblivion, gliding past another two and then hitting another poor soul with a knife-edge chop harder than anything a prime Ric Flair could produce, before gracefully floating the ball into the back of the net with the outside of his boot.
That was a lot to take in, right? Sounds like a lot, because it is a lot. But it all happens within the space of 10 mesmerising seconds, a period almost as astounding as Yamal’s ascent to first-team status.
Scoring worldies and breaking ankles at 13, debuting for Barcelona at 15. Makes you sick. We can’t beat this guy.
This goal by Lamine Yamal is just 3 seasons ago pic.twitter.com/amus7IRfp5
— La Masia (@Youngcules) April 29, 2023
Such flair and technical grace has always been championed at La Blaugrana, thus it’s no surprise to see someone like Yamal breakthrough so young when the club has rediscovered its identity with a club legend back in the dugout.
“Lamine Yamal is a similar player to Messi,” Xavi recently remarked: “He can mark an era at Barcelona.”
If you don’t believe us when we say the kid is about to forge a legacy, fine. Believe the man who helped his seven-time Ballon d’Or winning colleague to do so.
Fittingly, the goal came against a Betis youth side, too. Funny old game, isn’t it?
One can only wonder if Yamal tormenting Seville’s green and white side is set to become a recurring theme over the next few seasons. Given the talent that appears to be concealed within that left foot, though, we’ll be surprised if he limits that torment to just one team.
Yamal’s debut ought to have been a warning sign for the 19 other teams in La Liga and beyond. But if it wasn’t, the above clip of him sending defenders to the shops should absolutely do so.
READ NEXT: Where are they now? 9 forgotten Barcelona wonderkids: Halilovic…
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Barcelona’s top 20 goalscorers in La Liga since 2000?