Barcelona unhappy with Spain after Yamal's Messi/Maradona comparison

Stuart Telford

• 8 Oct 2023 12:44 BST
• 3 min read

Barcelona head coach Xavi has hit out at his Spain counterpart Luis de la Fuente after he compared talented youngster Lamine Yamal to Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona.

Yamal, like Messi and Maradona, is a left-footed attacking midfielder, and he has broken through for club and country in double-quick time, debuting for the former aged 15 and the latter at 16.

"Remember when Messi or Maradona played when they were 16? Now it seems sacrilegious to debate whether they should play when they are 16 years old," de la Fuente said recently. "You don't have to set limits for players like that."

READ: Lamine Yamal: Barcelona's 'next Messi' has the world at his feet

Except Xavi thinks that you do. The Barca manager spent 11 years in the first team alongside Messi, and has trusted Yamal with five starts across La Liga and Champions League this season.

Many 'next Messis' have failed

But he is yet to contribute an attacking return, and Xavi wants to take the pressure off.

"We're not doing Lamine any favours if we compare him with Messi," he said after Barca's 1-0 win at Porto on Wednesday. "It is true that the expectations are enormous, he's proving it, but we're going to see the future.

"But we have already seen that all the players who have been compared to Messi, they haven't done well at all."

READ: Why Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal is not in EA Sports FC 24

Bojan Krkic, Giovani dos Santos and Alen Halilovic are among the Barca youngsters to have previously been compared to Messi, none of whom reached anything like the heights of the Argentine club legend.

Yamal could find himself learning from the original in due course, however - Inter Miami failed to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs in his injury-enforced absence, and with no competitive football until February, he could return to Camp Nou on loan according to reports in Spain.