Barcelona and Spain starlet Lamine Yamal has named his footballing idol, but surprisingly, it is not Lionel Messi – his choice may surprise you.
Yamal has continued his impressive form for Barca this season after shooting to stardom with an excellent showing during Spain’s Euro 2024-winning campaign last summer.
The 17-year-old ‘La Masia’ youth product is a mainstay in Hansi Flick’s side, having already contributed with ten goal involvements – four goals and six assists – in ten La Liga games this term as Barca sit at the top of the Spanish top-flight.
Yamal still has a long way to go to replicate the improbable feat of Messi’s trophy-laden career, but he will no doubt take inspiration from the Argentine.
However, he did not name Messi when discussing who his idol was in a recent interview. But he did express how being compared to the great man is a sign of progress, however he insisted “the most important thing is to leave a legacy”.
“My idol as a child was Neymar, although Messi was the best, the way Ney played and the way he was… I loved it,” Yamal told La Liga TV.
Given Yamal’s age,17, having been born in 2007, he will no doubt be able to remember Messi and Co during their peak, but Neymar’s 2013 arrival in Catalonia captured the imagination of youngsters at the time. His attractive playing style of using eye-catching skills made him stand out from others players at the Camp Nou.
“At that moment, I remember that Neymar was at Santos, Messi obviously… Messi, {David Villa], Pedro… All from Barça,” he explained in an interview with French magazine France Football [via Mundo Deportivo].
“Those are the first images that made me see football.
“Since I was little, with my father and my mother at home, that’s the first thing I remember.
“We would meet after school at a friend’s house because he had a computer and we would put on videos of Neymar.”
“We would spend the whole afternoon watching there. Then I would go to sleep at my house and I would watch it at home, in my room,” he added.
Yamal will have no doubt been overjoyed when the Brazilian commented a ‘clapping hands’ emoji on his Instagram post following Spain’s Euros triumph in July 2024.