Yamal the world’s best player at 18 but can he inspire Barca to a remontada?

Barcelona rotated their forward line with the Champions League in mind but Lamine Yamal still started against Espanyol. The teenager then decided the derby with a scintillating display of football. Let us be blunt about what we are seeing. This is a genius.

The first goal came when Ferran Torres headed in his corner, one won with help from an audacious - but typical - Lamine Yamal backheel. The second, scored by the same player, came from an outside-of-the-boot through-ball. Neither man had to break stride.

He scored the third himself, beating the goalkeeper to the ball and celebrating even before completing the formalities. The fourth and final Barcelona goal was scored by Marcus Rashford after yet another arrowed ball behind the defence by you know who.

It was a performance to leave you as giddy as his markers. You wanted to rush to tell strangers what you had just witnessed. Luckily, there were over 60,000 others at Camp Nou to verify it. A half-constructed stadium but a fully-formed superstar. He is 18.

This was game number 100 in LaLiga for Lamine Yamal. In it, he became the first player in the competition this season to reach double figures for goals and assists. For context, Lionel Messi was already 20 years old when he first did that. Cristiano Ronaldo was 26.

To be this good this soon is something else entirely. Robert Lewandowski knew it after the first training session aged 15. The rest of the world were convinced when he propelled Spain to glory at Euro 2024, the final victory coming one day after his 17th birthday.

Stats cannot tell the story of why Lamine Yamal is so special but some are irresistible. Since making his Champions League debut aged 16, he has completed 116 dribbles in the competition - far more than any other footballer. He is top for through-balls too.

A reminder, this is his record at the start of his career. Ousmane Dembele beat him to the Ballon d'Or in the autumn but it is hardly a stretch to say that Lamine Yamal is already the world's best. Who else could say that as a teenager? Nobody since Pele.

An extraordinary figure has emerged and they know greatness when they see it in Barcelona. There are an astonishing number of shirts bearing his name, particularly among children. As with pop stars, the next generation want a hero of their own. They have found him.

Lamine Yamal is easy for them to identify with not just because of his talent, which is otherworldly, but his exuberance. When he scores, he dances for the crowd and then conducts them. When the ball goes out of play, he waves his arms, urging for louder cheers.

He wears his heart on his sleeve right above that taped wrist. It all adds to the feeling that anything could happen when he gets the ball. There is a palpable rise in anticipation. Nobody wants to look away. They might just see something they have not seen before.

Away from the pitch, that unpredictability has caused issues this season. An ill-advised remark about Real Madrid and how they 'steal and complain' caused consternation ahead of El Clasico. Even team-mates accused him of giving Madrid extra motivation to win.

"It is not good to make this noise around everything he is doing," said Barcelona coach Hansi Flick just recently. "I know everyone is looking to him because he is a fantastic player. But he is only 18." The issue is that, on the pitch, he makes it so easy to forget that.

Lewandowski says he plays like he is 25. Pau Cubarsi, the Barca defender who has known him since they actually were kids, goes with 30. It might be seen as a throwaway line but it is a key point. It feels that way because his decision-making is consistently so good.

This is another curiosity. His is an odd blend of emotion and maturity. You might notice that many have stopped imagining how good that Lamine Yamal will go on to become because he is already there. He has become the conspicuous leader of this Barca team.

That much was apparent when watching him up close against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Camp Nou. It was a difficult night for Barcelona with a very different outcome to the Espanyol game. Everything went wrong.

Cubarsi's red card at one end and Marcus Rashford's errant finishing at the other combined to leave them two down ahead of the return leg in Madrid on Tuesday. But through it all, Lamine Yamal was on a one-man mission to bend the game to his will. He was superb.

Julian Alvarez picked up the player of the match award and understandably so given the result. But strip away the context and no scout could have missed the Barcelona No 10. Drop an alien into that stadium and they would have recognised one of their own.

Torres once said that he is not sure his young team-mate knows what pressure is. "It looks like he is playing in the schoolyard." But it was not the performance of a player unaware of what was at stake. That was what made it all the more impressive. It spurred him on.

As another team-mate, Pedri, puts it: "No matter how the game goes, we know he is going to come into his own." That was what he did, darting and dancing towards the Atletico defence. Even in a losing effort, he created more chances than anyone else on the pitch.

Indeed, he attempted as many dribbles as his team-mates combined, more than the entire opposition. His nine successful dribbles were the most by any player in a Champions League game this season. The most since he did it 14 times himself against Inter in May.

Defeat that night denied us a final for the ages against Paris Saint-Germain. Now, there is work for Lamine Yamal and Barcelona to do just to reach the last four. While it is early in his career, that should be a frustration. He needs these games. These games need him.

More silverware with Spain is a distinct possibility at the World Cup this summer and the player himself has talked of wanting to win many Ballons d'Or, not just one. But there is no doubt that a Champions League triumph would make achieving that more likely.

It needs a remontada by three goals to stay in the competition. After seeing him serve such a win up on Saturday without hitting top gear, do not rule it out. Flick says that Barcelona do not need a miracle and he is right. Not with a genius like Lamine Yamal around.

The pictures within this article were taken by OPPO Find X9 Pro. OPPO has partnered with UEFA Champions League since 2022 and currently serves as the Official Smartphone Product Partner.