After witnessing from the contact line how Lamine Yamal pushed its Milan squad to its limit, Simone Inzaghi said talent like the Barcelona teenager only appeared once a half century later.
"He's the kind of talent born every 50 years, I've never seen him alive and he really impressed me today," Yamal helped Barcelona's 3-3 draw in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal on Wednesday.
“Lamine Yamal brought us a lot of problems in the last 25 minutes of the first half.”
Yamal, who scored his 100th game in just 17 years and 291 days, became the youngest player to score in the Champions League semifinals, a record set by the eclipse Kylian Mbappe, who was only 18 years old when he achieved his feat in 2017.
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick described his 17-year-old as a "genius" after Yamal showed his latest talent show in the club's senior team.
"He's special. I've said it before, but he's a genius," Frick said.
"In the big game, he showed up and I think he liked that situation. I'm glad to be able to come every 50 years as Simone said, and I'm glad it's from Barcelona."
“Really incredible”
Yamal refuted any comparison with Lionel Messi during his club's first press conference the day before Inter came to town. But his performance reminds Messi of his best time as his teammates feed him and separate him from the right.
Every time he gets the ball, he's looking for a teammate with a scoring position or dives his mark. His goal is for one for YouTube compilation.
Inter Mitt (Marcus Thuram) and Denzel Dumfries took a 2-0 lead, with the drive to score the goal just like Yamal who had nowhere to go on the 24th. But he slipped down on a defender, crossed for a second, and then placed the ball on his left foot, and he curled around the turn of at least two players. The ball hit the post far away and was shaken by the net.
Later, when he slid over two defenders and cut a shot from the angle on the crossbar, he became so close that he slid another shot later.
"This guy is incredible," Manchester City forward Erling Haaland posted a screenshot of Yamal's shot on Snapchat.
Former Manchester United footballer turned commentator Rio Ferdinand has commented on Yamal in the top five football leagues in the world.
“It’s incredible,” Ferdinand wrote in an article on X.
As pure football talent, I'm going to say that I think any player who plays in the top 5 leagues of the world football is at another level.
17-Impossible pic.twitter.com/t0ertfjpqw- Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) April 30, 2025
Young players crave more
Yamal Fed passed back-to-back shots by Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo, goalkeeper Yann Sommer saved Yann Sommer before Raphinha took over and hit Torres 2-2 before halftime.
Dumfries once again led the way with Raphinha's long-range strike to secure the draw. But Yamal was disappointed that the winner had insufficient efforts in the last game.
"The world can see that he is a good football player. He is a shining player," said midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
"We tried to stop him, but it was too difficult because he had a great talent. I hope we don't let him play so much next week."
Yamal said he appreciated the praise but just wanted to focus on the next game with just two wins.
"I'm so happy to help the team, and now we need to do more," he said.
“We knew we could have won the game, but now we’re just focusing on the second round and going.”