FC Barcelona legend Luis Suarez praised teenage superstar Lamine Yamal ahead of his current employer Inter Miami kicking off its Club World Cup campaign.
After making his debut as a 15-year-old in 2023 and then winning the Euros with Spain last summer, Lamine has just completed a treble-winning season under Hansi Flick which has seen him become one of the favourites to win the Ballon d’Or later this year.
He’s often compared to seven-time winner and fellow La Masia graduate Lionel Messi, and the Argentine’s close friend Suarez, who shares a locker room with the number 10 in Miami again, praised the winger while on media duties.
“Lamine is a player who at 17 years of age is showing great maturity. He takes responsibility in important games, they are challenges that he sets himself and as a Barcelona fan I am very happy for him,” Suarez first said.
Just like Cristiano Ronaldo warned the football world about not putting too much pressure on Lamine, Suarez advised him “to continue enjoying [himself] and gain experience to continue improving in the things he still has to learn, as we all learned when we were 18 years old.”
In spite of his young age, however, Suarez has no doubt that we are watching “a player who is marking an era and [making] a very big difference”.
As for Inter Miami, which kicks off its Club World Cup campaign on Saturday by taking on Al-Alhy, Suarez thinks that the David Beckham-owned outfit can get through to the knockout stage despite the likes of Porto and Palmeiras also making up the rest of the pack.
“We face a very difficult and competitive group, from which we will try to advance by doing our best, then we will see who will be our next opponent,” Suarez said.
FC Barcelona will not play at the Club World Cup
It will of course be impossible to find FC Barcelona at the Club World Cup after it failed to qualify for the newly-reimagined FIFA tournament. Though the Blaugrana could do with some of the prize money on offer, figures such as physio Julio Tous believes that Barca will go into next season with an advantage over Spanish such as Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, who could be fatigued.
Forbes.com
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