If you dey follow football matter, you go don hear about one boy wey dey cause serious gidigba for Barcelona. Na Lamine Yamal, just 18 years old, but him dey play like person wey don see football for 10 years. The pikin dey show say age na just number.
For LaLiga derby against Espanyol, Yamal carry Barcelona for back. Him set up two goals, score one himself, and even help Marcus Rashford score the fourth one. The way him dey play dey make person wonder if na human being or machine. Him just reach 100 games for LaLiga, and him don become the first player this season to get double figures for both goals and assists.
Make we put am for context: Lionel Messi reach 20 years before him achieve that kind record. Cristiano Ronaldo sef reach 26. But this Yamal boy, na 18! Him don already win Euro 2024 with Spain when him just dey 17. For Champions League, since him start at 16, him don complete 116 dribbles – pass any other player for the competition.
Thierry Henry, the former Arsenal and Barcelona legend, don come out talk say Yamal remind am of young Cristiano Ronaldo. Henry talk say the boy get that same fearless attitude wey Ronaldo get when him young. “This is what a young Cristiano Ronaldo used to do: he could talk boldly in interviews and back it up on the pitch,” Henry yarn.
For the Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid, Yamal talk say him go carry Barcelona single-handedly. And wetin happen? Barely two minutes into the game, him don score! Even though Barcelona eventually lose the match and exit the competition, Yamal performance dey make people jaw drop.
Robert Lewandowski, Yamal teammate for Barcelona, talk say the boy dey play like person wey get 25 years. Pau Cubarsi, another Barcelona defender wey know Yamal since dem small, even talk say him dey play like 30-year-old. The maturity wey Yamal dey show for pitch no be small thing.
But as the boy dey shine, pressure dey increase. Him once talk about Real Madrid say dem “steal and complain,” and that one cause wahala before El Clasico. Even some teammates talk say him dey give Madrid extra motivation. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick warn say: “It is not good to make this noise around everything he is doing. He is only 18.”
The problem na say when Yamal enter pitch, him dey make people forget say na just 18-year-old boy. Him decision-making dey sharp, him dribbling dey confuse defenders, and him confidence dey overflow. For that Atletico Madrid match wey Barcelona lose, Yamal attempt more dribbles than all him teammates combined, and even more than the entire Atletico team.
Ferran Torres, Yamal teammate, talk say him no sure if the boy even know wetin pressure be. “It looks like he is playing in the schoolyard,” Torres yarn. But Pedri add say: “No matter how the game goes, we know he is going to come into his own.”
Now Barcelona don exit Champions League, but Yamal career just dey start. Him still get World Cup with Spain this summer, and him don talk say him want win many Ballon d’Or awards, not just one. The boy get big dreams, and from wetin we don see so far, who fit stop am?
For Camp Nou, children dem dey wear Yamal jersey plenty. The next generation don find their hero. And as Thierry Henry talk, na the same way young Ronaldo take capture people heart, na so Yamal dey do now. The difference? Yamal dey do am even younger.