However, the Brazilian legend has no doubts that Lamine would have dribbled past him if the two had ever crossed paths on a football pitch. "[He's] Great. It would be a problem for me. Until my last day as a footballer, I never found a winger who was worse than me. They were always very fast... Lamine would have definitely dribbled past me," said Marcelo.
Valverde had the megastar Lionel Messi as the talisman of his Barcelona team in the past and now Hansi Flick's Blaugrana look up to teenage superstar Lamine Yamal to deliver the goods. As such, comparisons between the two have been doing the rounds for a while now, and Valverde gave his two cents on the same. "Time will tell. The bar is set incredibly high. Messi has arguably been the best player in the world, with incredible ambition every single day," warned Valverde.
"He's an incredible player, I'm proud of him as he progresses and develops. Barcelona and Spain have something special in him, and we must all help him learn to handle the pressure," said Rakitic.
"For me, Lamine is a great player and will be a player who will mark an era at Barça, I think, but well, in the end he spoke in a certain way, he heated up the game a bit and obviously the press jumped on him," Courtois noted. "Carva or Huijsen are in the national team and I think there's zero problem with Lamine. It's something that stays on the field and there's nothing going on off it," he further added.
Julien Lauren believes the Lamine Yamal situation could be "easily figured out" if both Barcelona and the Spanish FA "speak to each other" to sort it out. (1:49) Nov 17, 2025, 03:39 AM ET Barcelona are looking for reinforcements at left back, right back and on the wing, while AC Milan forward Christian Pulisic is waiting to see how the club fare this season before signing a new contract.
"I like the Barça coach, I think he's a decent person, but I heard what Luis said and I think it was blown out of proportion. De la Fuente certainly didn't mean to offend him."
Earlier today, FIFA announced the list of nominees for the Puskás Award and the Marta Award, which recognise the best goals of the season in men's and women's football, respectively. And, the governing body has included Barcelona superstar Lamine Yamal's extraordinary goal against Espanyol in the last Catalan derby at Cornellà-El Prat among the 11 best of the past season.
