FC Barcelona beat Villarreal in a match played at the Ceramica stadium, winning 4-3. But if we remember this match, it is thanks to the exceptional performance of the young Lamine Yamal, 16 years old.
After playing some interesting minutes against Getafe on Matchday 1 and then a thrilling game against Cadiz at Montjuic last week, Xavi Hernandez put his faith in the wonderkid once again from the start against Villarreal.
He couldn’t have done better to reward his trainer’s confidence. Yamal was involved in the vast majority of dangerous plays Barcelona created while he was on the pitch.
He served Gavi for the opener at the far post and also provided an assist for Robert Lewandowski, who eventually gave the Blaugrana the win. It was a knocked-back shot off the post by Filip Jorgensen, which Lewandowski then placed into the empty net, one of two occasions Yamal touched the post.
Lamine Yamal v Villarreal
16 years old. 💎pic.twitter.com/J1qTi9dEFS
— Matolisso (@Matolisso) August 27, 2023
The biggest question right now is how Xavi and FC Barcelona are going to handle his breakthrough. Yamal is clearly one of Barcelona’s best players right now but Xavi will have to be careful not to subject such a young player to the rigors of the game too soon, as happened with Pedri.
