Lamine Yamal has now scored 20 goals for Barcelona, but did he succeed in reaching that count faster than Lionel Messi? We have squeezed the numbers.
After his breakthrough last season, Yamal brought his competition to the next level this year under Hansi film.
The 17-year-old has already settled as an important player in the starting XI and he seems to be getting better with every passing week.
He managed to score his 20th goal for Barcelona during the weekend, because Flick's side came from two goals to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2.
Together with scoring 20 goals for Barcelona, Yamal has also provided 24 assists and remains one of the best creative points of sale in Europe.
While Messi was also called a 'miracle member' in his forming years, he was not a regular first team in Barcelona until he turned 18.
“Cristiano Ronaldo did not do what Lamine does at the same age,” Rio Ferdinand said recently on his YouTube channel.
“Ronaldo Nazario, Messi, Neymar, Mbappe, Owen, Zidane, Ronaldinho … None of them has shown the consistency and continuity that this young player provides.
“Most big ones started to come up at the age of 18. They may have played at the age of 17, but their real sparkle came at the age of 18 -.
Messi made his senior debut for Barcelona in 2004 at the age of 17, although he only regularly appeared for the 2005-2006 campaign.
For comparison: Yamal made his Barcelona debut at the age of 15 and he quickly settled as a regular starter.
That is why it will probably not be a surprise to hear that Yamal scored his 20th career goal at a younger age than Messi.
However, it took the 17-year-old more matches to score 20 goals compared to his Argentinian counterpart.
Yamal scored his 20th club goal in his 89th performance for Barcelona, while Messi took only 62 games to reach the monument of 20 goals.
“There is an incredible generation of young players with many years for them,” said Messi during a press conference from Adidas last year.
“If I have to choose someone because of their age and future, I fully agree that Lamine Yamal has been noticed.
There can be little doubt that the Spanish teenager is currently among the best players in the world and his underlying statistics, a backup of that statement.
Here is the complete breakdown of how long it took before Yamal achieved 20 goals for Barcelona with Messi.
How long did it take to reach Yamal to achieve 20 goals from Barcelona:
Games: 89
Goals: 20
Assists: 24
Target contributions: 44
Punish: 0
Minutes per goal: 302.8
Minutes per goal or assist: 137.6
Age: 17 years, 8 months, 3 days
How long did it take to reach Messi to achieve 20 goals from Barcelona:
Games: 62
Goals: 20
Assists: 5
Target contributions: 25
Punish: 0
Minutes per goal: 186.1
Minutes per goal or assist: 148.9
Age: 19 years, 9 months, 25 days
Comments