The (almost) perfect half hour of Lamine Yamal

MadridOn the billboards of the Madrid Puerta de Atocha - Almudena Grandes train station, a recurring advertisement for the sportswear brand that Lamine Yamal wears and also outfits the Spanish national football team. He is the protagonist of the advertisement. The young Barça star provokes contradictions among the staunch fans of the Spanish national football team, who are passionate about their football and at the same time maintain a rivalry with Barça that, in Madrid, often transcends merely sporting matters to fester into political, cultural, and identity issues. He is the best footballer in the world. the red, appears on billboards in Madrid, but for many, he's not one of their own: he's from Barça, he's from La Masia, he's Catalan.

Under Luis de la Fuente's management, no footballer in the Spanish national team has been more decisive. Lamine Yamal has scored four goals and provided eight assists at just 17 years old. While his teammates play in lower categories, such as the U-19s (which would be his age) or the U-21s, he sits among the best. He's earned it. This Wednesday, Ferran Torres scored the goal that qualified Barça for a Copa del Rey final four years later, but the pass was provided by the winger from Rocafonda. With his goal against France in the semifinals of the last European Championship, he finally became known throughout the world of football.

In Barcelona and in La Liga, people had been talking about that prodigy for a while. Masía had done it again. Barça had done it again. A goal, by the way, that until the Champions League quarterfinals against Benfica was the player's favorite. But the impossible arc he scored against the Portuguese, replaced him as his most beautifully crafted goal. Comparing him to Leo Messi is a tall order. The Argentine turned exceptionalism into routine. Lamine Yamal, who burst onto the scene long before the Rosario star, also makes exhibitions something earthly, within reach only of the select few, regardless of the stadium or opponent in front of them.

Like a painter, the young star turned the Metropolitano pitch into his canvas. It took him just one minute and thirty seconds to give the first cassock to Giuliano Simeone, a warrior whom his father and coach, Diego Pablo Simeone, switched to the wing to assist Reinildo Mandava. The midfielder and full-back were two broken toys compared to the Barça star's performance during the first thirty minutes of play. Lamine Yamal actively participated in all of Barça's attacking chances in the first half, when Hansi Flick's pupils shone the most.

From the cassock to Simeone right at the start, which reminded him of a mythical one that Riquelme made to Mario Yepes During a Boca Juniors-River Plate match 25 years ago, he made a control that was both a dribble and a whiplash that almost missed the goal. Lamine Yamal is, by far, the footballer with the most successful dribbles. In the Copa del Rey, he has 16 in four matches. But if you look at the bigger picture, the Barça winger, with 113 successful dribbles in La Liga, is the footballer in the continent's top five leagues who has made the most. He is followed by Manchester City's Jérémy Doku with 88. In the Champions League, he has accumulated 33 in nine matches. Dribbling, like scoring, is the most prized and hardest-to-find skill in football.

During his near-perfect half-hour—all he needed was a goal—at a Metropolitano stadium that fell silent with panic whenever the 17-year-old genius had the ball, Lamine Yamal also set up Ferran with an impeccable pass between the lines for the Valencian to score the only and decisive goal of the match. With 13 goals and 19 assists in 41 matches, the player from Rocafonda is also the youngest player to have been involved in 10 or more goals in Europe's top five leagues. Before halftime, he still had time to provide another assist for Raphinha, who shot hard but wide, and Juan Muso was able to deflect it.

His performance, like that of the entire team, dipped in the second half, but his performance was already served. "I tell him to keep doing what he's doing, to keep having fun. Although sometimes you have to stretch his ears a little," joked Pedri, Barça's best player, with Lamine Yamal's permission. The Canary Islander was referring to defensive assists. This is also a request from Hansi Flick. This, along with being more careful with some celebrations, are the few warning signs from a footballer who still has the sins of youth, but who is destined to make his mark.