Yamal, evening of Messi, 18 years after the historic photo in the arms in Leo

You can be fans but at the same time admire the beauty of a play. Or even more than one. The rival features it, it hurts you but you cannot, after c over, stop for a moment and be enchanted. It happens to anyone who is in front of Lamine Yamal, the date of birth 13 July 2007. At Montjuic to review Messi in Blaugrana, a dream vanished about a year ago, it did not serve close the eyes. And not even dreaming. A look at that devil with blond hair and the number 19 shirt on his shoulders was enough.

Lamine Yamal does things that we humans (and that we refer to professional players, not to “ordinary mortals”) cannot even imagine. He pulls only the foot, with the compact body, always in perfect balance while the defenders dance as if they were in the disco. Spine in the side is an understatement. On the other hand, the link with Leo is not limited to the Blaugrana shirt. There is a meeting that Lamine cannot remember but that a photo – which went down in history – immortalized. It was 2007, the Spanish newspaper Sport for a year had decided to publish a charity calendar with UNICEF, then sponsor of Barcelona.

Thus were recruited of the families who had come into contact with care issues with the international body. Among these, also that of Lamine Yamal. It was the first time that the very small foil put foot at Camp Nou. Certainly not the last. And not even the last in which his name will be combined with that of the flea. His worthy heir. Ah, noticed on a margin: with his goal at Inter at 17 years old and 292 days he beat the record of Mbappé (18 years and 140 days in Juventus-Monaco 2017) as younger to score in a Champions League semifinal.