”Yamal can open an era of football, especially at Barca,” Xavi said on Mundo Deportivo on April 1. “Hopefully we can always enjoy him at this level.”

Xavi highly appreciated Yamal for his ability to stay calm, learn quickly, mature before his age and play responsibly. He also believes that Barca and its fans need to be patient for Yamal to improve, feel happy and enjoy wearing the club shirt. “Yamal is very humble and is showing us that he is a different player,” Xavi added.

Yamal (middle) scored the only goal in Barca’s 1-0 win over Mallorca in round 28 of La Liga on March 8 at Montjuic Stadium. Photo: AFP

Yamal was introduced to Barca’s first team by Xavi in ​​April 2023, when he was only 15 years, 9 months and 16 days old. The La Masia star became the youngest player to play for Barca’s first team in 101 years.

This season, Yamal became a key player, playing 40 matches, scoring six goals and assisting seven times. His record of participating in 13 goals is only inferior to Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres, Joao Felix and Raphinha.

Yamal can play for Morocco or Equatorial Guinea, thanks to his parents’ origins. But he chose the place of birth and upbringing, Spain. After debuting in September 2023, the 16-year-old striker played six matches and scored two goals for the former World Cup champions. If there are no big surprises, Yamal will attend Euro 2024.

After the 0-1 loss to Barca in La Liga on March 30, Las Palmas coach Garcia Pimienta commented on Yamal and 17-year-old midfielder Pau Cubarsi on the opponent’s side: “These two kids look like they played in La Liga.” Liga 10 years. It’s crаzy.”

In the past 20 years, Barca has had two players who opened their own era of success: Ronaldinho in the period 2003-2008 and Lionel Messi in 2008-2021. During these two periods, the team won a total of 10 La Liga titles, four Champions League titles and two trebles. Barca and Bayern are two rare clubs with two trebles in European football history.