‘Best since Messi’ – Reliving Yamal’s Barca breakout moment
‘Best display since Lionel Messi’ – Reliving the match where Barcelona knew Lamine Yamal was ready to take the world by storm
The Joan Gamper Trophy is not something that resonates much outside of Spain. Named after one of Barcelona’s founding members and former presidents, it is awarded to the winner of an exhibition match that is hosted by the Blaugrana ahead of every season. Once a four-team competition, it is now just a single match, with Monaco the visitors for Monday’s 2025 edition.
Twelve months ago, Tottenham were Barcelona’s opponents. The Catalans included 16-year-old winger Lamine Yamal on their bench; a player very few outside of Spain knew of. There was probably some information out there the casual football fan might have picked up on about the La Masia kid who had made his Barcelona debut at 15, but so what? Barca were too broke to fill a hole on the wing, so Xavi probably had no choice but to play him.
That whole narrative changed on August 8, 2023. Yamal had been on the fringes of Barca’s team on their pre-season tour of the United States, shielded well away from the spotlight. But then, in the Gamper Trophy, he was unleashed. What ensued was perhaps the most important 15-minute cameo in recent Barca history, as Yamal tore Tottenham apart, thus proving he was ready to become a regular in the first team and, perhaps, take Spain and Europe by storm..
Suddenly, there was hope. Barca, short of cash and lacking in any real reason for optimism, had a singular, central figure to piece everything around. It would prove to be a risky strategy – it still is – but since then, Yamal has become the European star that those around Catalunya always felt he could be.
Whispers of a superstar
There had been a sense within La Masia for some time that Yamal would be a star. Xavi called him into training as a 14-year-old, having the winger – then basically still a child – work with the first team in September 2022. And even then, there was a sense that a senior debut wasn’t too far off, as Yamal spent most of the 2022-23 season proving that he was already too good for first Barca’s youth sides, and then their reserve team, Barca Athletic.
There was a certain romanticism to all of this. Yamal, for better or worse, had spent his life intrinsically connected with Lionel Messi. There were the easy comparisons in terms of position and playing style – both were languid left-footers who liked to operate off the right. But there were also freakish coincidences that seemed to point to something larger.
A baby Yamal had been photographed in the arms of Messi as a child, while another photo later emerged of a 12-year-old Yamal – ironically wearing Spurs sweatpants – standing next to Barca’s best ever. This all seemed too good to be true.
