• Lamine Yamal helped Barcelona to 5-2 victory over Real Madrid in Spanish Super Cup final
  • 17-year-old’s first half goal was Messi-esque
  • Barca fans used Yamal’s success to taunt Cristiano Ronaldo
Image: Imago

A teenager wearing the number 19 and terrorising the Real Madrid defence with his mesmeric left foot. We’ve heard this story somewhere before, haven’t we? Lamine Yamal played the Lionel Messi-inspired hits and continued to write his own astonishing story against Los Blancos in the Spanish Super Cup final, last night.

Maintaining the theme of recent El Clasicos, the Supercopa de España was suitably chaotic, bringing five goals in the opening half. Unfortunately for Carlo Ancelotti’s reigning Spanish and European champions, four of them were conceded by his team.

Kylian Mbappe may have opened the scoring in the opening minutes, but once Hansi Flick’s charges equalised in the 21st minute, it was one-way traffic. And a lot of that traffic was being directed by a 17-year-old with the world at his feet.

Being a La Masia prodigy and sporting the same number that briefly adorned the back of Lionel Messi’s shirts during the early stages of his Barcelona career, Lamine Yamal was always likely to draw comparisons to the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner. But the 17-year-old Spanish prodigy isn’t allowing the enormity of the diminutive Argentine Demi-God’s legacy slow his own progress down.

If anything, judging by his performance in King Abdullah Sports City in Saudi Arabia, Yamal isn’t keen to wait around when it comes to emulating the Greatest Of All Time. The teenager drew Barca level in the 22nd minute and did so in a manner that appeared eerily similar to a certain Argentine.

Cutting in from the right side of the 18-yard box, receiving Robert Lewandowski’s expertly weighted pass, Yamal led the Los Blancos defence a merry dance, leaving Antonio Rudiger in his wake and breezing away from Ferland Mendy before pulling a low left footed effort back the way he had come from, past a helpless Thibaut Courtois and into the bottom corner.

It wasn’t long before the goal was being stitched side-by-side with a Messi effort against Real Sociedad from years ago.

Lewandowski, Alex Balde and a brace from Raphinha rounded out anothe rampant Clasico victory for Barca, following on from their emphatic 4-1 thumping of their biggest rivals in La Liga earlier in the season. Even a second-half red card for goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny couldn’t hinder them, as Hansi Flick’s team held possession with ease and grace to see out the final 35 minutes.

For Real, it is a return to La Liga, where they currently trail city rivals Atletico at the top of the table by a single point, and the Champions League, where they are precariously positioned 20th in the overhauled league format, only five places above the elimination zone. Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Vinicus Jr and co have a lot of work to do in the second half of the season to ensure their wretched Clasico record so far isn’t their legacy for 24/25.

For Yamal, is a Champions League winners medal on the horizon to sit alongside his European Championships medal from last summer? No one in their right mind would rule it out at this point.

author avatar
Joe Baiamonte
Joe spent four years heading up SPORTbible’s editorial team before taking over at UNILAD Sport. Joe has regularly provided WWE coverage for almost a decade, interviewing many of the biggest names in the business and covering several major events in the United States and Europe, including four WrestleManias.
See Full Bio
social network icon social network icon