Former coach Fabio Capello warned Barcelona fans not to praise Lamine Yamal too much, because he is not a genius like Messi.

Yamal plays more mature than the age of 16. Photo: Barcelona Club

Midfielder Lamine Yamal began to emerge in the summer of 2023. Since then, he has appeared in 44 matches for Barcelona and became a leading pillar in coach Xavi’s squad. Yamal also performed excellently in his first professional season, with a record of 6 goals and 8 assists.

Recently, Barcelona faced Real Madrid in the Suρer Classic match. Even though the Catalan team lost 2-3, Lamine Yamal still played outstandingly and won the Best Player of the Match award.

The fact that Yamal has been playing so well since he was so young has made many people compare him to the legendary Lionel Messi, another La Masia talent who also emerged at the age of 17. However, former coach Fabio Capello has a different perspective. .

He was quoted by Forbes: “Lamine has a lot of qualities and is very interesting, but he is not a genius. Messi, Pele and Maradona are geniuses. Ronaldo is also close to that.

Cristiano is a great player, a great goalscorer, he has won titles and the Ballon d’Or, but he is not as great as Messi. He has an admirable career, but he is not a natural genius,” Capello emphasized.

In fact, coaching Xavi also does not want to put pressure on his students. In early March, after Barcelona’s match against Mallorca, he refused to compare Yamal with Messi: “Everyone will be inferior when compared to Messi. We are talking about the best player in the history of this sport, not You should compare him with other players.”