Barcelona and Spain’s fast-rising youngster Lamine Yamal is acing his game with the Spanish giants in La Liga.
He reached a major career milestone assisting the club’s first goal in a 3-1 rout of cross-city rivals Espanyol.
Barcelona vs Espanyol match recap
Barcelona made their early pressure tell and hit the front in clinical fashion. Given space on the edge of the box, Yamal clipped a fantastic ball in behind which Olmo ran onto and slotted a first-time finish in off the near post despite Espanyol goalkeeper Garcia getting a hand to it. It was a deserved lead for the home side after a fiery start to proceedings.
Nine minutes later, in-form Brazilian and former Leeds United winger Raphinha also registered his name on the scoresheet to double the lead for the hosts.
The skipper made a darting run in behind to get on the end of a floated ball in behind.
He then timed his effort perfectly to tap the ball past an onrushing Garcia, finding the back of the net as he got clattered by the Espanyol goalkeeper.
Five minutes after Raphinha’s strike, Espanyol pulled one back in the 28th minute. They thought they had halved the deficit with the goal, but it was ruled out for offside after a summons from the VAR room.
Three minutes later, Barcelona finally put the game beyond the visitors with a superb goal by Dani Olmo again.
Alejandro Balde had teed up the Spaniard with a fine pass, and he finished it perfectly, firing into the bottom-left corner.
Espanyol scored again in the 58th minute but were undone again by the offside trap. However, they would finally score and reduce the deficit three minutes after the hour mark, but the goal happened to be their consolation after going down by three goals. Barcelona ran out winners thanks to a clinical first-half performance and Dani Olmo’s brace.
Lamine Yamal close up on Lionel Messi in the match
Meanwhile, Lamine Yamal reached a career milestone in the match. The youngster recorded his 24th goal contribution in the match following the 14th-minute assist to Olmo for the first goal.
Notably, Lamine Yamal’s 24th goal contribution for Barcelona came in his 50th appearance. It saw him fall just one more tally short of the club’s legend, Lionel Messi, who managed 25 goal contribution in his 50th appearance for the club.
Despite not matching the strides of the Barcelona legend, the proximity shows the preparedness of the youngster to take after the footsteps of the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, who emerged as the club’s most decorated and celebrated footballer.
Lamine Yamal performances for Barcelona
Since his breakout 2022–23 campaign, Lamine Yamal has continued to accentuate brilliance for the Catalan giants.
He made 37 La Liga appearances in the 2023–24 season, scoring five goals with five assists. Also, he had two Champions League assists in that campaign, becoming the youngest footballer to do so.
This season, the teenage sensation has already gotten off the mark. He has 5 goals and 7 assists in 12 La Liga matches and a goal and an assist in 3 Champions League matches.
