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The first leg of the Champions League semifinal between FC Barcelona and Inter Milan ended 3-3, and one of the best players on the pitch was Barca’s star Lamine Yamal. The 17-year-old winger continues to wow the football fans as he scored a stunning goal outside the box in the first half.
Yamal’s goal sparked Barcelona’s dramatic 2-2 equalizer in the first half after going 2-0 down in the first 20 minutes. Another goal from Denzel Dumfries and an own goal from Yann Sommer led the game to finish 3-3.
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On the same day Yamal made his 100th appearance for FC Barcelona, the youngster broke yet another Champions League record. The record he now broke was held by Kylian Mbappe. Yamal’s goal today now makes him the youngest player to score in a Champions League semifinal.
Mbappe became the youngest player to score in a UCL semifinal in 2017 when he was 18 years old. (18yrs; 140days) Yamal is currently 17 years old (and 291 days) and will turn 18 on July 13th.
After the Barcelona vs Inter game, many fans and players reacted to the performance of Lamine Yamal. Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni spoke after the game about the talent of Yamal.
Bastoni: “He is amazing, there’s not much to say. It’s unbelievable he’s only 17 years old, unbelievable. The work Barcelona is doing at La Masia is fantastic.”
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Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi was also impressed by Lamine Yamal and mentioned that his team needed to be careful with him.
Inzaghi: “I haven’t seen a player like Lamine Yamal in the last eight or nine years. We had to put three players on him. Talents like Yamal are born once every 50 years.”
Even Manchester City striker Erling Haaland was impressed by Lamine Yamal today. On his Snapchat, Haaland took a picture of the game and in the caption wrote, “This guy is incredible.”
While many football fans have praised Lamine Yamal to be a heavy favorite to win the Ballon d’Or this year, an Inter player disagrees. Inter striker Marcus Thuram spoke after the game and was asked if Yamal is the best player in the world.
Thuram said, “No… The best player in the world is French. And the second best too. After that, Lamine Yamal… The best players are Dembélé and Mbappé.”
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Thuram opened the scoring in the first 30 seconds of the game as Dumfries sent a low cross into the box. The French striker flicked it past Wojciech Szcesny to make it 1-0 to Inter. This was Thuram’s first game back from injury, and he hasn’t played since Inter’s last Champions League game, which was against Bayern in the quarterfinals.
Related: Lamine Yamal Fires Back at Real Madrid as Barcelona Chase Champions League Glory
