Even though he is just 17 years old, Lamine Yamal is one of Barcelona’s best players and one of the faces of La Liga.
The La Masia academy graduate’s ability to unbalance the game and his superiority on the right wing have allowed the Blaugrana club to enjoy an excellent start to the season.
One of the key statistics that helps to explain the importance of Lamine for Barcelona is his immense impact on the results when he is in the starting XI and when he is sitting on the bench.
No Lamine, no wins
Indeed, whenever Lamine Yamal has been absent, Barcelona have suffered on the field. And in a significant way.
Barcelona have played 15 matches so far in La Liga, and have failed to win four of them. Unsurprisingly, these four matches are the ones in which Lamine has not started or has not played at all – Osasuna (4-2), Real Sociedad (1-0), Celta Vigo (2-2), and Las Palmas (1-2).
Lamine returned from injury today. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
At El Sadar vs Osasuna, the Catalans struggled due to the long list of rotations made by Flick. Lamine started on the bench and came on with half an hour left, scoring a goal, though it proved entirely inconsequential.
The La Masia forward was absent in the games against Real Sociedad and Celta Vigo earlier this month due to an ankle injury. He travelled to San Sebastian but was not even included on the bench, and in Vigo, he was not even named in the squad.
This afternoon, against Las Palmas, even though he was fully recovered, Lamine did not start and only stepped onto the Montjuic pitch at the start of the second half, replacing Pablo Torre.
However, despite Lamine’s efforts down the right wing, Barcelona ended up on the losing side, falling to a 1-2 defeat against the Canary Islanders.