Breaking Pele’s 66-year-old record. Achieving things Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could only have dreamed of at his age.
It is fair to say Lamine Yamal has shaken up the game of football in the past year – and he could have his finest moment yet on Sunday.
The youngest person to play at the Euros, to assist a goal at the Euros and to score a goal at the Euros is bidding to become the youngest person to win the Euros when his Spain team take on England in Berlin.
Not only is he breaking those records, but he is doing it with style. With one goal and three assists, only team-mate Dani Olmo has been involved in more goals at Euro 2024.
It is not just potential, he already seems like one of the most exciting players in the world.
After his goal-of-the-tournament contender in the semi-final win over France, former England striker Gary Lineker said “a superstar is born”.
So what has Barcelona winger Yamal, who turned 17 on Saturday, achieved so far in his career – and why is it so special?
How rare has Yamal’s breakthrough been?
Before turning 17, Yamal had played 51 times for Barcelona, scoring seven goals and setting up another seven.
For Spain he has 13 appearances, three goals and six assists.
By comparison, neither Argentina’s Messi nor Portugal’s Ronaldo – the two greatest players of this generation – had played a single first-team game for club or country when they were 16.
And when we look at the players expected to replace Messi and Ronaldo as Ballon d’Or rivals – France’s Kylian Mbappe and Norway’s Erling Haaland – their stats at this age cannot compare to Yamal either.
Mbappe had played four games for Monaco, making one assist before turning 17 – while Haaland had played 23 times in Norway for second-tier Bryne and top-flight Molde, scoring once.
Even one of the most famous players to make their breakthrough at 16, Wayne Rooney, had only played 10 times for Everton and scored three goals before reaching 17.
The club records Yamal has broken
Not all of Yamal’s appearances so far have come aged 16… because he was 15 when he made his Barcelona debut.
Aged 15 years and 290 days he became Barcelona’s youngest player in the La Liga era when he replaced Gavi with six minutes to go in a 4-0 win over Real Betis on 29 April 2023.
On 20 August, at the age of 16 years and 38 days, he became the youngest player since 1939 to start a La Liga game when he lined up in a 2-0 win over Cadiz.
One week later he became the youngest player to assist a La Liga goal in the 21st century when he crossed for Gavi to head in during a 4-3 win at Villarreal.
He became the youngest player to start a game in the Champions League, at 16 and 83 days, in a 1-0 win at Porto on 4 October.
Four days later he became the youngest goalscorer in La Liga history when he netted in the first half of a 2-2 draw at Granada.
He became the youngest player to play in El Clasico, the youngest player to set up a Champions League goal, aged 16 years and 153 days at Antwerp, and the youngest player and scorer in the Spanish Super Cup.
Yamal also became the youngest player to score in the Spanish Cup this century, the youngest player to score twice in a La Liga game, the youngest player in a Champions League knockout game and a quarter-final.
Unsurprisingly he is the youngest player to make 50 appearances for Barcelona and the youngest player to play 10 Champions League games.
Even Lamal could not match the records of Armand Martinez Sagi, though. He was Barcelona’s youngest ever player and scorer at the age of 14 in the Catalan Championship in 1920 – nine years before Spain had a national league.
Among the few major records he has missed out on are youngest player in the Champions League (Youssoufa Moukoko was 16 years and 18 days for Borussia Dortmund against Zenit St Petersburg in 2020) or La Liga (Luka Romero was 15 years and 219 days old for Mallorca against Real Madrid in 2020).
He has yet to net in the Champions League and will not have the chance to break Ansu Fati’s record as youngest scorer, aged 17 years and 40 days for Barcelona against Inter Milan in 2019, in that tournament now.
