‘He reminds me of me’: Lionel Messi calls his ‘successor’ the best player in the world international sports news
For almost two decades, Lionel Messi Seen by many fans as the greatest footballer of the modern era, the Argentinian has won a record eight Ballon d’Or awards and built a legacy that includes one World Cup title, four Champions League and 10 La Liga trophies during his legendary career. Now 38 and currently representing Argentina at international level playing for Inter Miami CF, Messi has admitted that the next generation is already preparing to take over the top of world football. Speaking during a recent Adidas event, as reported brandMessi was asked which young player reminds him the most and who he believes can become the best player in the world in the coming years. Argentina immediately pointed to Lamine Yamal.“There is a new generation of football players who are very good and have many years ahead of them, but if I had to pick one because of his age, what he has done so far, and what he can do in the future, it is Lamin [Yamal]. No doubt, for me he is the best.“He reminds me of when I was little.”
Why is Yamal already being compared to Messi?
The comparison has added significance as Yamal is following a similar path to Messi at FC Barcelona. Messi spent 17 years in Barcelona’s senior team, wearing the famous number 10 shirt and becoming the club’s greatest player, while dominating European football alongside stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo During one of the sport’s greatest rivalries.
Xavi and Lionel Messi (Image via Getty)
Ronaldo won five Ballon d’Or awards during that era, second only to Messi’s eight. Messi was also just 22 years and 160 days old when he won his first Ballon d’Or in 2009, making him the third-youngest winner in history behind Michael Owen and Brazilian striker Ronaldo Nazario. Yamal is now becoming the face of Barcelona’s next generation, while he is already wearing the club’s iconic number 10 shirt and electrifying supporters at the Camp Nou in the same way Messi once did.
Lamine Yamal. (Photo Courtesy-X)
The Spain international has already helped Barcelona sail towards another La Liga title this season, while also winning the 2024 European Championship with the Spain national football team.
Yamal’s surprising growth in terms of numbers
Despite still being only 18 years old, Yamal’s rise has become one of the most rapid and statistically impressive successes seen in football in years.The winger has already made 154 appearances at club level and scored 49 goals, while also breaking a remarkable number of records at FC Barcelona.Yamal became the youngest player to reach 40 goals for Barcelona in all competitions, surpassing Paulino Alcantara’s record since 1915. Earlier this year, he also became the youngest player to score 10 or more goals in the Champions League.He is already Barcelona’s youngest debutant, youngest goalscorer and fastest player to reach 100 matches, and despite being only 18 years old he already holds 16 different club records. Messi’s output at the same stage of his career was still a little stronger in terms of goals-per-game ratio, but Yamal has managed to reach many of these milestones at a younger age than the Argentine during his rise through Barcelona’s first team. At international level, Yamal has already scored six goals in 25 matches for Spain and played a major role in their European Championship win in 2024.
Spain’s Lamin Yamal smiles with his medal next to the Euro 2024 trophy. (AP Photo)
His personal honors are also already increasing rapidly. Yamal has twice won the Copa Trophy, an award given to the world’s best under-21 player, and was also most recently runner-up to Ousmane Dembélé in the Ballon d’Or voting.
Messi believes Yamal can create his own legacy
There is still a huge gap between Yamal’s current achievements and the career that Messi ultimately built at Barcelona, Argentina and now Inter Miami.
Lionel Messi (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)
Messi’s era included four Champions League titles, 10 La Liga trophies and ultimately World Cup glory with Argentina in 2022, achievements that cemented his place among the greatest players in football history. But Messi’s public support of Yamal is significant as very few young players have received that level of support from the Argentine icon. With Barcelona continuing to rebuild around the teenager and Spain already eyeing him as one of the faces of their future, Yamal’s rise looks less like a promising start and more like the beginning of football’s next superstar era.