During Barcelona’s first leg of the semi-final matchup against Inter Milan at Camp Nou, Lamine Yamal made his European debut. Everyone in attendance, including Manchester City forward Erling Haaland, was impressed with the 17-year-old wonderkid.
Inter’s daring Marcus Thuram flick gave them a shocking 30-second lead in the highly anticipated continental match, and Denzel Dumfries’ acrobatic effort just before the 20-minute mark gave the Catalans a second goal.
Yamal stepped up to win the game handily because it appeared like the home team had a huge task ahead of them. With his complex dribbling abilities giving the opposition all kinds of issues, the Spain international started to gain confidence.
Haaland, Erling Lamine Yamal vs. Inter impressed me.
The forward for Man City was amazed by what he was witnessing.
The young phenom, who had previously alarmed the Italian defense, eventually had his reward after a frantic run that left multiple Inter players in his wake before cutting inside and picking out the far corner. A few seconds later, he nearly repeated the feat when he sailed past Federico Dimarco and attempted a shot on goal, but Yann Sommer made a deft save to stop him.
Yamal was the primary driver of the comeback, as Ferran Torres forced the ball across the line in the 38th minute to tie the score. Haaland was one man who was very impressed by what he was seeing.
Despite being sidelined due to an injury, the Norwegian shared a photo of his laptop showing the Barcelona match. In reference to Yamal, the 24-year-old captioned the photo, saying, “This guy is incredible.”
Among the top contenders to win the 2025 Ballon d’Or, Yamal’s performances on the biggest stage will do his chances of huge personal accolades any harm at all. His Barcelona team will play the winner of Arsenal’s match against Paris Saint-Germain if they advance to the final following next week’s second leg.
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