Girona coach Míchel has mentioned Lamine Yamal can attain Lionel Messi’s stage after watching the Barcelona winger take his facet aside in Sunday’s Catalan derby at Montilivi.
Yamal, 17, scored twice as Barça received 4-1 to make it 5 wins from 5 in LaLiga this season, with Dani Olmo and Pedri additionally on track earlier than Cristhian Stuani netted a late comfort for Girona.
“Lamine is a difference-maker,” Míchel mentioned in a information convention. “For me, he’s already probably the greatest gamers on the earth at 17 years of age.
“It’s tough to think about that after Messi one other [like him] would come alongside, however I hope that Lamine retains bettering as a result of he is a participant than can attain that stage.”
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Yamal scored twice in seven first half minutes to successfully kill recreation earlier than the break, robbing David López to open the scoring on the half hour mark earlier than including his second with a well-taken end from the sting of the field.
The Spain worldwide now leads the league in objective contributions this season with seven, forward of teammates Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, who’ve six and 5 respectively.
Previous to Sunday’s brace towards Girona, 4 of Yamal’s 5 objective contributions had arrived through assists, with Barça coach Hansi Flick welcoming the addition of extra objectives to his recreation.
“I used to be actually glad as a result of he scored the objective,” Flick mentioned of his response to the opening objective. “Lamine usually offers the final move and I used to be glad that he scored immediately.”
Yamal’s opening objective got here through Barça’s excessive press, which notably impressed Flick and has been a attribute of his staff’s unbeaten begin to the brand new marketing campaign.
“We began the match very concentrated, very centered and we pressed them actually good,” the German coach added.
“The primary objective was unbelievable, actually good from Lamine [in the press], and we deserved the win and the end result.
“We go now with the arrogance we have now constructed up during the last matches, you’ll be able to see it additionally immediately, about our strains, about how we keep as a unit, very compact and really excessive.
“It is usually not straightforward to do that, however we all the time want stress on the ball and we did it good. I feel you’ll be able to see the arrogance we have now and, when we have now the ball, we have now the standard to play and to create probabilities.”
Olmo added the third with a surprising strike from a good angle earlier than Pedri made it 4-0 after amassing a Marc Casadó move and rounding the goalkeeper as Barça banished reminiscences of a 4-2 defeat at Montilivi which ended their slim title hopes on the finish of final season.
Nevertheless, the sport ended on a bitter observe, with Stuani scoring a comfort for the house facet, Ferran Torres receiving a straight crimson card for a foul on Yáser Asprilla that can earn him a suspension and Olmo going off with an damage.
Flick mentioned Olmo will bear assessments on Monday to find out the character of the hamstring downside, however there’s optimism he won’t be sidelined for lengthy with Barça resulting from kick off their Champions League marketing campaign at Monaco on Thursday earlier than a visit to Villarreal in LaLiga.
