The Spanish winger put forth an incredible performance, prompting Richards to give him the new nickname
Where were you when you were 17? For Lamine Yamal, he’s in the process of rewriting history with every kick of the ball. Scoring against Inter and also pushing Barcelona forward in a 3-3 draw in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, what Yamal is doing is unheard of. Tuesday was his 100th appearance for Barcelona, and in that time, he has 50 goal contributions for the club (22 goals, 28 assists). Any player would be happy to do that, but he’s doing it in braces before turning 18.
It’s truly remarkable, and while Yamal has us running out of words on how to describe his play, one thing that he doesn’t have is a nickname, but that could be changing after CBS Sports’ Micah Richards coined “Lamine The Dream” during the UEFA Champions League Today post-match show.
It’s astonishing watching Yamal at Barcelona when one of the only players who has matched what he’s currently doing in his first 100 senior games is Lionel Messi, who had 41 goals and 15 assists. While that’s ahead of Yamal’s contributions, it’s not a significant rate when considering Yamal’s uptick in production this season and playing many more games by his age than Messi did. But Yamal may already have Messi beaten in the nickname department.
Messi’s nickname of “La Pluga,” which translates to “The Flea,”isn’t something that rolls off the tongue quite in English like “Lamine The Dream.” Considering Yamal’s confidence that Barcelona will win the treble, his own dreams are also quite large despite already winning the Euros with Spain and La Liga with Barcelona. The sky is the limit for what he can accomplish, as even Messi didn’t make his Barcelona debut in La Liga until he was already 17. Yamal’s came at an astonishing 15 years and nine months.
Destined for greatness, he’s already showing what he can do on the pitch and is quickly rising the ranks to be one of the best players in the world before his 18th birthday. It’s hard to comprehend what he can do from here, but we can all witness greatness while Yamal lives his dream on the pitch for his boyhood club, now with a nickname that just may stick.
