Mission Impossible with Lamine Yamal: "The last thing you have left is to pray."

Special Envoy to Milan"Stopping him is extremely difficult. We'll have to try to stop the ball from reaching him, but that's impossible in today's football. We'll have to be especially alert and we'll redouble our efforts to mark him. At 17, he's a very dangerous player. We saw that in the first leg. What we saw in the first leg. He already knows what he's going to do in the next play. When the team has problems, they give him all the balls." Shortly before these statements, Lamine Yamal arrived in Milan and stepped off the plane with a lollipop in his mouth and a carefree attitude. The same thing he shows on the pitch. "Having such young players is like a party, they're more carefree and it takes the pressure off," joked Barça's Dani Olmo before the match.

A good part of Barça's chances depend on the inspiration of Lamine Yamal, who had already been decisive in the first leg by beating his team backs after conceding two goals in just twenty minutes. The winger from Rocafonda was decisive in energizing an attack that, in Milan, has Robert Lewandowski back for the cause. The Pole, who injured his left thigh against Celta three weeks ago, wants to start, but the final decision will be made by Hansi Flick today. Balde, on the other hand, hasn't even been called up. Gerard is the one who has the best chance of starting. For Inter, Inzaghi didn't want to reveal Lautaro's physical condition, who will surely push himself to play in the semifinals.

The build-up to tonight's big game has focused on Lamine Yamal and how to stop him. "We know the kind of player he is. I'm not surprised by what he's doing; I've already seen him play very good games, both with Barça and at the European Championship with Spain," said Olmo. For his part, Inzaghi was full of praise and is once again preparing to double-mark the Barça winger, who has already shown he can shut down one of Europe's most organized teams on his own. Inzaghi will also have an ally in VAR: Dutchman Pol van Boekel, whose decisions already hurt Barça's interests during the 2022-23 Champions League group stage in matches against Inter and Bayern Munich. For Inzaghi, neutralizing Lamine Yamal is his main obsession. "If they double-team him, it means we'll have a player free, right?" Olmo said mischievously beforehand. "Whatever they do, we're very clear about our plan."

"The last thing you can do is pray."

Joan Capdevila, a former player for teams such as Espanyol, Deportivo, Villarreal, and Atlético Madrid, where he played as a left-back, tells ARA that against a winger of these characteristics, you have to try "above all, not to tackle him suddenly, because you know he's often going to beat you. Be there. In goal." And, he jokingly adds: "The last thing you can do is pray." Capdevila, with more than 600 professional matches, knows what he's talking about, having faced wingers of the caliber of Arjen Robben and Gareth Bale.

Alberto de la Bella, who has played against wingers like Cristiano Ronaldo and also has extensive experience in the First Division, especially with Real Sociedad, points to the prior work that defenders must do. "You have to try to gather as much information as possible: when he usually decides to cut inside, when he cuts out... It's work that can be done with analysts, but equally Lamine Yamal is a player who can come out on both sides..." This is one of the Barça forward's greatest virtues, "unlike wingers who are known to move wide if they play with their more skilled foot, or if they play with their other foot, they will often look more for a diagonal towards goal." Apart from lighting a candle and praying, De la Bella sums it up clearly: "Watch a lot of previous videos of his matches, get your mindset ready, and be accurate."

For Capdevila, a world champion with the Spanish national team, it's harder to defend a winger like Lamine Yamal who constantly takes you on than another winger who is more insistent on getting free in space because "there are more options for assists to arrive." De la Bella, who is studying psychology and training as a sports mentor, adds that "both situations are complex" and recalls how Pedro, at Guardiola's Barça, constantly poked at the back, creating space for Dani Alves' runs: "It was complicated because you had to be aware of the ball, the player, and not get caught." That said, he agrees with Capdevila that it's more complicated to defend a winger who constantly takes you on and tries to tickle you, and highlights the importance of assists in covering players like Lamine Yamal: "It's impossible to cover a player like Lamine Yamal without the help of your teammates." Changing Barça's course depends on a super warrior who is only seventeen years old.