CNN
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Raminyamal is only 17 years old.
Following his lavish performance against Inter Milan in the Champions League, we may have heard a lot recently, especially over the past 24 hours. But what Yamal is doing at 17 is not normal, so that really repeats it.
And you’ll probably hear more of it until July 13th when he turns 18.
Even Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo hadn’t even touched on the Heights already held by Yamal, the two best players of their generation.
This statistic gives some ideas about how far Yamal is in his development.
At 17, Messi played in nine games, scoring one goal and providing zero assist. Ronaldo had five goals and four assists in 19 games. Yamal? 100 games, 22 goals, and 33 assists.
Again, this is not normal.
Since making his first team debut in 2023 at the age of 15, Yamal has already won the Laliga title, Copa del Rey and the 2024 European Championship against Spain.
But not only does Yamal consistently produce goods when it matters most, he does so with sw awa and fearlessness that betrays the green age.
He plays with full joy and freedom, as if he’s kicking around with his friends in the park every time he steps onto the pitch.
The way Yamal controls his body and thus moves it from one side to the other becomes a nightmare to protect him.
The moment with Inter emphasized this control completely as Yamal dropped his shoulders and produced the perfect “Marseille Turn” to make the two defenders bambbaozle.
Hansifrik, Barcelona’s manager, calls Yamal a “genius.”
“He’s special,” Flick told reporters. “After the game, when you see the situation he has in a match, you look at all the details and it’s incredible how he does it.”
Intermanager Simone Inzagi described Yamal as a generational talent.
“Ramin has caused so many problems for us,” he told reporters, according to Marca. “He’s a talent that comes every 50 years. I saw him alive for the first time today. We’ve doubled and tripled by marking him.
“We’ve tweaked a few things. It’s easy in front of the computer and the microphone. He’s the player who impressed me and caused a lot of problems in the last 30 minutes.”
TNT Pundit and former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said Yamal’s performance on Wednesday “has captivated the whole stadium.”
“To see a young 17 year old, the number of times he actually had the ball, the number of times he affected a series of plays,” Ferdinand told TNT.
“Every part of his legs he was using today. There were only various details, the different ways he was working his body to receive the ball, all aspects of his game today, on display.
Ferdinand also praised Yamal’s decision-making and the way he could make an impression on important times in the match.
“He’s 17 years old, has made 100 appearances and is just taking over the game at the moment, and it’s great to see that,” he added. “When I talk about the best pure talent, he has the ability to play different ways in football games.
“He can influence the game by just passing and becoming a creator, and he can also run people from the past to eliminate players and then finish.
Fellow TNT critic and former footballer ally McCoist said Yamal’s first half performance was “for a person who has certainly seen it for a long time.”
He added: “To see him approaching his hands – he looked 30 or 40 yards in front of us. The ball on the outside of my left foot was on the inside of my left foot. His goal, for example, was majestic.
“There were so many aspects to his game today. He’s absolutely first class and to think of a 17 year old boy, he knows he’s playing at his free time, but he seems to be playing 15 or 20 years.
