FC Barcelona Ace Lamine Yamal Smashes Lionel Messi All Time Record

As pointed out by OptaJose, FC Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal smashed a long-standing record previously held by fellow La Masia alumni Lionel Messi when helping beat Deportivo Alaves in La Liga on Sunday.

The teenager was once again crucial at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium, in a rare early afternoon kick off for the Catalans seen up close by 42,900 tense Culers.

With crosstown foe Espanyol doing Barca a solid by beating eternal rival Real Madrid 1-0 on Saturday evening, the pressure was on Hansi Flick’s men to deliver and take a step forward in the title race after so many slip ups towards the end of 2024.

Those saw the Blaugrana squander a six-point lead at the La Liga summit, to then trail both of the main clubs from the Spanish capital by a similar margin.

Lamine started the proceedings with a spring in his step, and wowed the soccer world with an inspired 14-second dribble that made fools of at least five visiting Alaves players before he laid off an excellent outside of the boot pass to Raphinha which the Brazilian unfortunately couldn’t convert into an early goal to take the heat off.

The solo run once more triggered comparisons between the Euro 2024 winner and Lionel Messi, which have only intensified after a photo of a young Messi “blessing” a baby Lamine went viral last summer.

Messi was again relevant when the full time whistle had been blown, with Lamine having been important in Robert Lewandowski’s strike around the hour mark which cut Madrid’s advantage to four points.

As explained by OptaJose, Lamine completed 11 out of the 21 dribbles he attempted in the fixture, which saw him surpass a personal best amount Messi put up against Mallorca in 2007 when the eight-time Ballon d’Or holder completed 10 out of an attempted 20.

The stats experts believe that Lamine’s feat is the best of any Barca player since at least 2005/2006.

Furthermore, Lamine extended his comfortable lead over his nearest rivals as the best dribbler in La Liga by some distance with these figures.

He currently has 73 dribbles to his name, which is quite a few more than Sevilla’s Dodi Lukebakio on 64 and way in front of Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe on 46, as highlighted by Mundo Deportivo.