barcelona midfielder Gavi They say Lamin Yamal The best player in the world after Lionel Messi That follows the teenager’s disastrous display in Wednesday’s 5-1 win over Real Betis in the Copa del Rey.
Yamal scored one, created two and had another goal ruled out for offside, as Barca eased into Monday’s quarterfinal draw.
The 17-year-old has scored nine times so far this season and provided 13 assists for his teammates in 24 matches.
When Gavi was asked if Yamal was already the best player in the game, he told reporters, “Yes, he is.” “Well, after Lionel Messi, he is the best.”
Yamal, who led Spain to European Championship success last summer, finished eighth in last year’s Ballon d’Or and also won the Copa trophy and the Golden Boy award, awards given to the world’s best young player.
He has long since established himself as a regular player in Barca’s first team, having already made over 70 appearances, and was a cause of trouble for Betis all night on Wednesday.
After Gavi opened the scoring, Yamal’s superb lobbed pass set up Jules Conde For Barça’s second. The winger then set up Kounde again, only for the goal to be ruled out as offside after a lengthy VAR check.
Yamal thought he had added a third for Barça after the break, only for a VAR review to once again rule out the effort for offside, before a superb solo run from the edge of his own box. Rafinha Scoring.
Option ferran torres Scored the fourth goal for Barça, doing well after being fed before Yamal finally got his own goal fermin lopez, Vitor RoqueOn loan at Betis from Barça, scored a late consolation from the penalty spot.
“You know, Gavi is very emotional, so I also say yes,” Barca coach Hansi Flick told a press conference. When asked if he agreed with Gevi’s opinion on Yamal. “You can see it. I think in big games you see big talent and he’s shown it many times. He’s on a really good path. But we’ve got to take care of him.”
After a disappointing end to 2024, Barca have now started 2025 with four consecutive wins, including a 5-2 thrashing of Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa final on Sunday.
Flick wants his players to carry that form into LaLiga now, where they are six points behind leaders Atletico Madrid and five behind Real.
“Today was a very important day for us after the big win against Real Madrid,” the German said. “It was great to see how the whole team comes back as we travel [back from Saudi Arabia] And we train tomorrow itself.
“So it’s good to see how we played today, what a performance from the start. We controlled the game and it’s really good to see how they performed.
“Big goal [is to play like this in LaLiga]We are taking it match by match, of course the next match against Getafe is on Saturday. “We want to play and be ready to play and win.”