‘Majestic,’ ‘mesmerizing,’ ‘a genius’: How the soccer world reacted to 17-year-old Lamine Yamal’s performance against Inter

CNN Lamine Yamal is still only years old didn t you know The chances are you ve heard that a lot not long ago especially over the past hours following his sumptuous performance against Inter Milan in the Champions League But it really does bear repeating because what Yamal is doing at is not normal And you ll perhaps be hearing it a lot more until July when he turns Even Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by far the two best players of their generation didn t even come close to touching the heights Yamal has already This stat will give you specific idea as to just how far Yamal is along in his advancement At Messi had played in nine matches scored one goal and provided zero assists Ronaldo had five goals and four assists in matches Yamal matches goals and assists Again this is not normal Since making his first-team debut aged in Yamal has already gone on to win a La Liga title a Copa del Rey and the European Championships with Spain But it s not just that Yamal is consistently producing the goods when it matters the greater part he does so with a swagger and fearlessness that belies his green years He plays with total enjoyment and freedom too as though each time he approaches onto the pitch he s merely having a kickaround with his friends at the park The way Yamal can control his body feinting this way and that and transferring his body weight from one side to the other makes him a nightmare to defend One moment against Inter highlighted this control perfectly as Yamal dropped a shoulder and produced a perfect Marseille turn to bamboozle two defenders Barcelona manager Hansi flick called Yamal a genius He s special Flick informed reporters After the encounter when you see the situations he has in the match you see all the details and it s unbelievable how he does it Inter manager Simone Inzaghi described Yamal as a generational talent Lamine caused us so several problems he described reporters per Marca He s a talent that comes along every years I saw him live for the first time in current times we doubled up on marking him tripled him and he still did that We tweaked specific things it s easier in front of a computer or a microphone He s a athlete who impressed me and caused us a lot of problems in the last half hour TNT pundit and former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand declared Yamal s performance on Wednesday was mesmerizing this whole stadium Just to see a young -year-old the amount of times he indeed had the ball the amount of times he impacted a sequence of play Ferdinand disclosed on TNT Every part of his foot he was using currently the different detail the different procedures he was moving his body to receive the ball just every facet of his event currently was on show and it was quite beautiful to be here and be a part of Ferdinand also praised Yamal s decision making and the way he is able to make an impression at crucial times in a match He s years old he has appearances and the way he s just taking over games for moments it s just great to see that he added When I talk about the best pure talent he has the ability to play different options in a football match He can affect the event through just passing and being a creator he can also run past people and eliminate players and then finishing To do that makes him a very unique proposition Fellow TNT pundit and former footballer Ally McCoist disclosed Yamal s first-half performance was as good a minutes for an individual I ve seen certainly in a long long time He added To watch him close at hand he looked to be or yards in front of us there were balls with the outside of his left foot inside of his left foot His goal for example was just majestic There were just so a large number of aspects to his event the present day He was absolutely first class and to think a -year-old boy I know he plays with freedom but it s like he s been playing for years His contest knowledge is absolutely incredible for a -year-old