Lamine Yamal talks Lionel Messi, Neymar and leaving a legacy at Barcelona
Lamine Yamal has opened up on his footballing journey and his heroes Lionel Messi and Neymar in a new interview with France Football.
The teenager has spoken to the outlet after being nominated for both the Kopa Trophy and the Ballon d’Or after a stellar year for club and country.
Yamal has had to cope with comparisons with Messi already throughout his young career but says the talk does not really affect him.
“For me the most important thing is to leave a legacy, to have your career. In the end, being compared to Leo is more important than not looking at it,” he said.
“It is true that if you are compared to the best player in history it is because you are doing things well. It doesn’t bother me, obviously, but I try to always be myself.”
Yamal’s big hero growing up was actually Neymar, and the teenager explained how he’d love to watch the Barca superstar in action.
“At that moment I remember that Neymar was at Santos, Messi obviously… Messi, Villa, Pedro… All from Barça. 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 do it at home, in my room.”
Barca’a latest star also went on to talk about how his football journey and how he learned to play without fear.
“I always had my ball with me. I remember I would carry it in a bag to school and I would kick it around until I got to class. When I got to class I would hide it in my backpack because the teacher wouldn’t let me leave it on the table. I’ve always had a ball with me,” he said.
“In the end I always played with my friends and the opposing teams were 20 years old and I was 11 or 12. So that took away a lot of my fear and allowed me to enjoy and play against anyone.
“All this makes you grow even if you think it doesn’t help you. It always helps you because when you see someone bigger than you, you know how to go for him and dribble past him so that he can’t hit you.”
“When I came from La Torreta, it’s true that I had that one-on-one, that verticality and everything, but I didn’t have control over myself. Knowing when to play fast or when to play slow, being able to play as a team… all those things that in the end you do at Barça, which is the club that best knows how to use its players for that.”
Yamal is the hot favourite to lift the Kopa Trophy in October when the awards are handed out. There will also be few people betting against him lifting the Ballon d’Or too at some point in the future if he can continue on his current trajectory.
