There are portraits that precede greatness, snapshots of youthful genius. The boy with the indie-band bangs celebrating on Ronaldinho’s back. The bleach-blonde teen with blaugrana braces leaving a trail of Inter defenders in his wake.
Almost exactly 20 years separated Lionel Messi’s first goal for Barcelona and Lamine Yamal’s sensational Champions League semi-final strike on his 100th appearance for the Catalan giants last month.
Yamal did it again to clinch Barcelona another La Liga title earlier this month, cutting inside on to his left foot and emphatically delivering what is becoming his trademark finish against rivals Espanyol.
That made it two league titles already for Yamal, and the 17-year-old is still a month younger than Messi was when he lobbed the goalkeeper from Ronaldinho’s scooped assist to become La Liga’s then youngest scorer in 2005.
Yamal has also won a Copa del Rey and Super Cup with Barcelona, and a European Championship with Spain just for good measure.
Now he has been rewarded with a new six-year deal at the Spanish champions.
“I don’t want to compare myself with the best player in football’s history,” said the forward last month, but conjecture around whether he can emulate Messi is natural.
The stats show Yamal’s trajectory since his debut aged 15 years and 290 days is rising faster than that of either Messi or the other superstar of his generation, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yamal, not 18 until July, has already played 105 games at club level and scored 24 goals. By the same age, Messi had scored once in nine senior games for Barca while Ronaldo had netted five goals in 19 games for Sporting.
Yamal also has four goals in his 19 appearances for Spain. Neither Messi nor Ronaldo made their international debut until they turned 18.
“Lamine is Lamine. Leo is Leo,” Barca sporting director Deco told BBC Sport. “Leo was the best player in the history of this club, and, for me, the best player in history.
“So it’s not easy to compare these kinds of things. But Lamine in terms of quality, he can, in the same way, make history like Leo.”
It took Messi, who made his debut at 16, until shortly before his 21st birthday to hit the 100-game mark in Barcelona colours, scoring 41 goals in the process.
But they were the first of an incredible 672 goals for the club, to complement the eight Ballons d’Or, one World Cup, two Copas America, four Champions Leagues and a huge haul of domestic silverware.
“It is not normal,” says former Barcelona midfielder Mark van Bommel of Yamal’s rise. “That’s why everyone is talking about him. [But] to reach the number of Messi, that’s not easy. Even for a guy playing at 17.”