Kamal Ghorui
For almost two decades, Lionel Messi has been viewed by many fans as the greatest footballer of the modern era, with the Argentine winning a record eight Ballon d’Or awards and building a legacy that includes a World Cup title, four Champions Leagues and 10 La Liga trophies during his legendary career. Now aged 38 and currently playing for Inter Miami CF while still representing Argentina internationally, Messi has admitted that the next generation is already preparing to take over at the top of world football. Speaking during a recent Adidas event, as reported by Marca, Messi was asked which young player reminds him most of himself and who he believes could become the best player in the world in the coming years. The Argentine immediately pointed toward Lamine Yamal.“There’s a new generation of footballers who are very good and have many years ahead of them, but if I have to choose one because of his age, what he’s done so far, and the future he can have, it’s Lamine [Yamal]. There’s no doubt, for me he’s the best.“He reminds me of myself when I was young.”
Why Yamal is already being compared to Messi
The comparison carries extra weight because Yamal is following a path remarkably similar to Messi’s at FC Barcelona. Messi spent 17 years in Barcelona’s senior side, wearing the famous number 10 shirt and becoming the club’s greatest-ever player while dominating European football alongside stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo during one of the sport’s greatest rivalries.
Xavi and Lionel Messi (Image Via Getty)
Ronaldo won five Ballon d’Or awards during that era, second only to Messi’s eight. Messi was also just 22 years and 160 days old when he won his first Ballon d’Or in 2009, making him the third-youngest winner in history behind Michael Owen and Brazilian striker Ronaldo Nazário. Yamal is now becoming the face of Barcelona’s next generation while already wearing the club’s iconic number 10 shirt and exciting supporters at Camp Nou in much the same way Messi once did.
Lamine Yamal. (Pic Credit – X)
The Spain international has already helped Barcelona move toward another La Liga title this season while also winning the 2024 European Championship with Spain national football team.
Yamal’s astonishing rise by the numbers
Despite still being only 18 years old, Yamal’s rise has already become one of the fastest and most statistically impressive breakthroughs football has seen in years.The winger has already made 154 appearances at club level and scored 49 goals, while also breaking a remarkable number of records at FC Barcelona.Yamal became the youngest player ever to reach 40 goals for Barcelona in all competitions, surpassing a record previously held since 1915 by Paulino Alcántara. Earlier this year, he also became the youngest player ever to score 10 or more goals in the Champions League.He is already Barcelona’s youngest debutant, youngest goalscorer and fastest player to reach 100 appearances, and he already holds 16 separate club records despite still being only 18 years old. Messi’s output at the same stage of his career was still slightly stronger in terms of goals-per-game ratio, but Yamal has managed to reach many of these milestones at an even younger age than the Argentine did during his own rise through Barcelona’s first team. Internationally, Yamal has already scored six goals in 25 appearances for Spain and played a major role in their European Championship triumph in 2024.
Spain’s Lamine Yamal smiles with his medal next to the Euro 2024 trophy. (AP Photo)
His individual honours are also already growing rapidly. Yamal has won the Kopa Trophy twice, the award presented to the world’s best under-21 player, and also finished runner-up to Ousmane Dembélé in the most recent Ballon d’Or voting.
Messi believes Yamal can build his own legacy
There is still a huge distance between Yamal’s current achievements and the career Messi eventually built across Barcelona, Argentina and now Inter Miami.
Lionel Messi (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Messi’s era included four Champions League titles, 10 La Liga trophies and finally World Cup glory with Argentina in 2022, achievements that cemented his place among the greatest players in football history. But Messi’s public backing of Yamal is significant because very few young players have received that level of endorsement from the Argentine icon. With Barcelona continuing to rebuild around the teenager and Spain already viewing him as one of the faces of its future, Yamal’s rise increasingly looks less like a promising start and more like the beginning of football’s next superstar era.
