Lamine Yamal

Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana (born 13 July 2007) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right winger for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team.

Early life

Born in Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia, to a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean Fang mother, Lamine Yamal grew up further up the coast in Granollers and Mataró, specifically the Rocafonda neighbourhood. At the age of seven years he moved to Barcelona.

Club career

FC Barcelona

Youth career

Growing up through the youth ranks of La Masia, Lamine Yamal was soon viewed as one of the academy's best prospects. Whilst added to the Juvenil A team—already above his age grade—for the 2022–23 season, Lamine was selected by Xavi to train with the first team along with other youngsters in early September 2022. While still yet to sign his first professional contract with the club, he appeared to be one of the academy members to most impress the coach.

2023–24: First-team breakthrough

Lamine Yamal made his first-team debut on 29 April 2023, replacing Gavi in the 83rd minute in a 4–0 win against Real Betis in La Liga in which he registered a shot on target against former Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and became not only the fifth youngest player in La Liga's history at 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days old, but also the youngest to appear for Barcelona's first team since the 15-year-old Armando Sagi in 1922, over a century before. He won his first title with Barça on 14 May 2023, having been part of the squad that won the 2022–23 La Liga. Despite this, he would miss the title celebration the following week due to international duty with Spain.

Lamine earned his first start for the club on 20 August 2023 in a 2–0 victory over Cádiz at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, becoming the youngest starter for Barcelona in La Liga at the age of 16 years and 38 days. His first start was met with a standing ovation from the opposition fans as he was subbed off with five minutes left in the game. In his next starting appearance, Lamine was named man of the match after contributing towards two goals scored by Gavi and Robert Lewandowski in a 4–3 victory over Villarreal on 28 August 2023. At 16 years and 45 days, he became the youngest player to supply an assist in a La Liga fixture. He was named the inaugural U23 Player of the Month for August as a result of his performances. On 19 September, Lamine made his Champions League debut in a 5–0 win over Antwerp, becoming the second youngest player to feature in the competition, aged 16 years and 68 days, only behind Youssoufa Moukoko.

On 2 October 2023, Lamine extended his contract with Barcelona until 2026, with a buyout clause of €1 billion. Two days later, he started in his first match of the Champions League against Porto, becoming the youngest player named in a starting line-up at 16 years and 83 days old. He was then subbed off with 19 minutes left in the match due to stomach problems. Lamine was three days younger than Celestine Babayaro, who set the record in 1994. On 8 October 2023, Lamine scored his first goal for the first team in a 2–2 away draw to Granada. He became the youngest goalscorer for Barcelona and the youngest in history to score in La Liga, aged 16 years and 87 days, breaking both records set by Ansu Fati and Fabrice Olinga respectively. On 28 October 2023, Lamine made his first El Clásico appearance as a substitute in a 2–1 loss at home, becoming the youngest player to feature for Barcelona since Ansu Fati and breaking Vicenç Martínez's La Liga record in 1941, as well as René Petit's overall record set in 1916.

On 4 December 2023, Lamine was given the inaugural Golden Boy The Youngest trophy, which is awarded to the youngest player nominated for the Golden Boy award. Subsequently, on the ceremony day, Lamine was not present due to school. On 11 January 2024, Lamine scored in a 2–0 win over Osasuna in the Supercopa de Espana semifinal, becoming, at 16 years and 182 days, the youngest player to score in the Supercopa. Lamine then played the last 29 minutes of the Supercopa de Espana final against Real Madrid on 14 January. Two weeks later, on 25 January, he scored in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals against Athletic Bilbao in an eventual 4–2 loss after extra time, becoming the youngest goalscorer in the competition's history, beating the previous record set by Juanmi in 2010.

On 11 February, Lamine netted twice in a 3–3 draw against Granada, earning the man of the match accolade. Hence, he became the youngest player in La Liga to score a brace, breaking the previous record of Bojan Krkić in 2008, and the first player ever to achieve this record under the age of 17. He also became the youngest player to reach more than 10 goal and assist contributions in La Liga at 16 years and 213 days. On 21 February, he became the youngest player to play in the Champions League knockout phase, aged 16 years and 223 days, when Barcelona played against Napoli in the round of 16, breaking previous record of Warren Zaïre-Emery.

International career

Lamine Yamal is a youth international for Spain, having played for the Spanish U15 and U16 squads.

In 2023, he represented Spain's U17 side in the 2023 European U17 Championship with Lamine scoring 4 goals during the tournament. Spain went all the way to the semi-finals where they were knocked out by France following a 3–1 defeat.

At the age of 16 years and 50 days, Lamine received his first senior international call-up on 1 September 2023 by coach Luis de la Fuente for the 2024 Euros qualifiers against Georgia and Cyprus. Lamine made his senior debut for Spain against Georgia on 8 September 2023, scoring in the 74th minute of a 7–1 victory. At the age of 16 years and 57 days old, he became the youngest player and goalscorer for Spain, breaking both of Gavi's records who debuted at 17 years and 62 days old and scored at 17 years and 304 days old. In addition to this, Lamine became the youngest goalscorer in a Euro qualifying match, overtaking Gareth Bale's record who scored at the age of 17 years and 83 days old.

Lamine was recalled to the Spanish squad in October 2023 for the remaining Euro qualifying matches against Scotland and Norway. Spain would win both matches to qualify for Euro 2024.

Style of play

A left-footed forward with excellent dribbling, passing and chance-creating abilities, Lamine Yamal is able to play either as a centre-forward, an attacking midfielder or a winger, notably on the right flank.

With his technical profile, he was compared to Lionel Messi, like many La Masia products before him, but also more recently to loaned out Barcelona player Ansu Fati.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Lamine Yamal goal.''

Honours

Barcelona
* La Liga: 2022–23

Individual
* La Liga U23 Player of the Month: August 2023
* La Liga Goal of the Month: March 2024
* ''Tuttosport's'' The Youngest Award: 2023
* IFFHS Men's Youth (U20) UEFA Team: 2023
* UEFA European Under-17 Championship Top Scorer: 2023
*UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2023

References

External links

Lamine Yamal
at the La Liga website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamine Yamal
2007 births
Living people
People from Esplugues de Llobregat
Footballers from the Province of Barcelona
Spanish men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
FC Barcelona Atlètic players
FC Barcelona players
Primera Federación players
La Liga players
Spain men's youth international footballers
Spain men's international footballers
Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent
Spanish sportspeople of Moroccan descent