Lamine Yamal has now scored 20 goals for Barcelona, but did he manage to reach that tally quicker than Lionel Messi? We've crunched the numbers.
Following his breakthrough last season, Yamal has taken his game to the next level under Hansi Flick this year.
The 17-year-old has already established himself as a key player in the starting XI and he seems to be getting better with each passing week.
He managed to score his 20th goal for Barcelona over the weekend as Flick's side came from two goals behind to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2.
Along with scoring 20 goals for Barcelona, Yamal has also provided 24 assists and continues to be one of the best creative outlets in Europe.
While Messi was also dubbed a 'wonderkid' in his formative years, he wasn't a first-team regular at Barcelona until he turned 18.
“Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't doing what Lamine is doing at the same age,” Rio Ferdinand recently said on his YouTube channel.
“Ronaldo Nazario, Messi, Neymar, Mbappe, Owen, Zidane, Ronaldinho… none of them have shown the consistency and continuity this young player delivers. It's a fact.
“Most of the greats started emerging at 18. They may have played at 17, but their real brilliance came at 18 and beyond. With Yamal, we've never seen anything like this before.”
Messi made his senior debut for Barcelona in 2004 aged 17, although he didn't feature regularly until the 2005–06 campaign.
In comparison, Yamal made his Barcelona debut aged 15 and he's quickly established himself as a regular starter.
Therefore, it probably won't come as a surprise to learn that Yamal scored his 20th career goal at a younger age than Messi did.
However, it did take the 17-year-old more matches to score 20 goals, compared to his Argentine counterpart.
Yamal scored his 20th club goal in his 89th appearance for Barcelona, whereas Messi only took 62 games to reach the 20-goal landmark.
“There's an incredible generation of young players with many years ahead of them,” Messi said during an Adidas press conference last year.
“If I have to choose someone because of their age and future, I completely agree that Lamine Yamal has been pointed out. He is the present and, without a doubt, has a great future.”
There can be little doubt that the Spanish teenager currently ranks among the best players in the world and his underlying stats back up that statement.
Here's the full breakdown of how long it took Yamal to reach 20 goals for Barcelona with Messi.
How long it took Yamal to reach 20 Barcelona goals:
Games: 89
Goals: 20
Assists: 24
Goal contributions: 44
Penalties: 0
Minutes per goal: 302.8
Minutes per goal or assist: 137.6
Age: 17 years, 8 months, 3 days
How long it took Messi to reach 20 Barcelona goals:
Games: 62
Goals: 20
Assists: 5
Goal contributions: 25
Penalties: 0
Minutes per goal: 186.1
Minutes per goal or assist: 148.9
Age: 19 years, 9 months, 25 days
E-mandavid
93
Don’t forget that when Messi was that age, Barcelona had way much top mature players compared to when Yamal started. You can’t compare yamal to Messi at that age!
loopholes
77
Are you comparing the greatest player with a new horn. Yamal is good but nowhere near LIONEL MESSI. Messi played and scored those when La Liga teams dominated europe. No epl clubs could even remotely come close. He played in the prime Era of spanish football.
jizadklpry
53
The difference is the Era of football , those days football was difficult and physical with lots of legends of the game in their prime and their was competition , unlike now , we are just watching to enjoy the beautiful game but not competitive, now it money , u can’t see players dribble past 5-6 players now, back then most of these legends were showboating showing the beauty of the sport and a lot of ppl fall in luv with football , there was more passion than now, now it money , and also back then it was very physical now u touch a player small it a red card or yellow with var and a ban of 5-10 games … the beauty of the sport has lost it rhythm and artistry , now it just based on money and probably overhyping , cuz really none of these generational players would have made it back in those days
sujalpkl4
36
Yamal batter than Mbappe🔥
Famacdksuy
12
The reason he is playing so many games coz he never meet Ramos and Pepe..
Fabbcntyz
12
NO ONE WILL BE LIKE MESSI
Shmonny
12
Raphinha x Robert Lewandowski x Lamine Yamal
shaffer12
12
EVEN IF YAMAL GET 100 GOALS IN JUST 30 MATCHES, DON'T DISRESPECT MESSI BY COMPARING THEM.
jizadklpry
10
And I also believe it because of these legends like Messi starting at a young age made Barca now believing in young lads to make the cut in the starting 11 , unlike back then coaches pick players based on experienced …. Like Messi and co laid the foundation to be trusting young lads it started with them!!