Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique has been clear on one point: he will not compare Lamine Yamal with Lionel Messi. The comparison is now heard almost daily about Barcelona’s 18-year-old star.
He is only 19, and already one of the favourites for the Ballon d’Or. He plays for Barcelona, prefers the right wing and is left-footed, and those likenesses have drawn comparisons with Lionel Messi. Ahead of a Champions League match the question was put to Luis Enrique, and he gave his view.
Luis Enrique coached Messi at Barcelona, where his team won the treble. Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez formed a formidable attack at the time.
Yamal is playing well again this season, keeping up last season’s form. He has scored 9 goals in 11 matches and set up 10 more. On Wednesday night Barcelona face PSG, and he is expected to be the side’s main hope in that match too.
Luis Enrique believes Yamal should build his own identity, and that staying in Messi’s shadow is not right for him. He praised the young player’s progress, but he regards Messi as the greatest of all time, so comparing anyone with him is unfair, in his view.
“I think Lamine is doing one thing very well. He wants to be Lamine Yamal. He is improving in many areas of the game. If you compare anyone with Messi, the greatest player of all time, nobody wins,” he told reporters.
“Lamine wants to be the best version of himself. It is better not to measure yourself against others. He is very intelligent,” he added. He spoke ahead of the match against his former club.
Luis Enrique accepts that Yamal is a major threat to PSG. In his view, the best way to stop him is to give Barcelona less of the ball. He admitted that is hard against Hansi Flick’s side, so he has told his players to trust their own strengths and to play together.
“It is very simple. We cannot let him get the ball, because when he has it, there is danger. The best way to stop Lamine is not to let Barcelona have the ball at all. That would be the ideal situation for us. But it will not happen, because we know how hard it is to play against Barcelona,” he said.
The 56-year-old coach made one more point. PSG cannot think only about Yamal, because there is quality throughout the Barcelona squad. PSG must stay alert and defend together.
“We know they have players of extraordinary quality, not only Lamine. Raphinha, Pedri, Cubarsí, Joan García… there are many. We will be focused and careful. We have to beat him as a team,” he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report