Marcus Thuram claims that Lamine Yamal is not the best player in the world and he is ranked behind the teammates of France Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe.
Thuram faced Yamal when Barcelona and Inter 3-3 went into a Champions League classic during their semi-final first leg on Wednesday, with the Frenchman scored the fastest goal ever in this phase of the competition when he yielded after 30 seconds.
Yamal inspired the Barcelona comeback in that match and scored their first with a stunning solo effort to mark his 100th performance for the club.
Yamal (17y & 291D) became the youngest score ever in a semi -final of the Champions League, a record that was previously held by Mbappe (18Y & 140D).
He also became only the second teenager who scored in the last 16, quarterfinals and semi-final within a single Champions League campaign after Mbappe for Monaco in 2016-17.
Yamal's performance against Inter led Simone Inzaghi to say that he had “not seen a player like Yamal in eight or nine years”, but Thuram was not so impressed by the young person.
“No, he is not,” Thuram told Canal+ when asked if the recent performances of Yamal are making him the best player in the world.
“The best player in the world is French. And the second is also French. Ousmane and Kylian.
“Yamal may be third.”
In all competitions, Yamal scored 15 goals and registered 24 assists while he continues to help Barcelona's urge to a treble.
Meanwhile, Dembele enjoys the best season of his career, and his goal on Tuesday gave Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 lead on Arsenal at the half point of their semi-final of the Champions League.
Only Robert Lewandowski (40), Harry Kane (36) and Mbappe (34) have scored more goals this season in the big five competitions of Europe in all competitions than Dembele (33).
His 25 goals in 2025 are at least five more than any other player at the time.
Mbappe has passed a difficult start to the season, but has still made an impression in his debut campaign for Real Madrid, with 34 goals in all competitions.
He has now scored the second most goals by a Madrid player in their debut campaign for the club, and still has time to match or even break, Ivan Zamorano's record of 37 before the end of the season.