Lamine Yamal Is Entering the Lionel Messi Zone as Barcelona Star Declares He Deserves the 2026 Ballon d'Or
BARCELONA — Lamine Yamal scored twice as Barcelona beat Levante 4-2 on Sunday, extending the club's perfect start to the La Liga season and opening a three-point lead over Real Madrid, the latest milestone in a run of form that has intensified comparisons between the 19-year-old winger and Barcelona legend Lionel Messi.
Yamal's brace at Estadi Ciutat de Valencia marked his third two-goal outing in as many league matches this season, a stretch of production that has coincided with a broader debate over whether the teenager deserves this year's Ballon d'Or, football's most prestigious individual honor. Speaking in an interview with Movistar Plus, excerpts of which were published Sunday, Yamal made his case directly. For me, Mbappe and me, we're the two best players in the world, he said, referring to Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe. I honestly think that, as the best in the world, maybe there are two of us, and this year I would deserve it because of what I've won.
Yamal had struck a more measured tone in comments the previous Tuesday, saying he believed he had a genuine chance after an incredible season but would not beg for votes. His case has been strengthened by a trophy-laden year that saw him help Barcelona retain the La Liga title before winning the World Cup with Spain this summer, following earlier triumphs at Euro 2024 and the 2025 Nations League.
The comparisons to Messi, who spent 21 seasons at Barcelona and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport's history, have followed Yamal since he first broke into the first team as a teenager. For much of his young career, those comparisons have been viewed as an unfair burden placed on a developing player. But with each passing season, the parallels have become harder to dismiss.
Messi's own transformation at Barcelona is generally traced to the arrival of manager Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2008. Before Guardiola, Messi was already an outstanding talent, having lifted the Champions League and multiple league titles and finished runner-up for the Ballon d'Or. But it was under Guardiola, starting in the 2008-09 season, that Messi became what many consider the greatest footballer ever produced, anchoring a Barcelona side that swept the treble that year. Ahead of the 2009 Champions League final, then-teammate Xavi Hernandez captured the sense that something extraordinary was unfolding. Messi is the best player in the world by a distance, he's the No.1, Xavi said at the time. There is nobody at all like him. I don't want to compare him to anyone because it'll just damage the other player if I do. For me Messi is easily the best. All due respect to Ronaldo and all the other great players on the world stage, but Messi is proving that he is better than everyone else. The world can see that he's the boss. I've never seen anything like it. In a game, in the training sessions, never. I wouldn't swap him for any player.
Yamal, by most measures, is running ahead of Messi's pace at the same age. He has already won a European Championship and a World Cup with Spain, achievements Messi did not collect until later in his career, and has played a starring role in back-to-back La Liga title triumphs with Barcelona. He has also already finished runner-up for the Ballon d'Or, and with this year's nomination, he has become the first player in history to be nominated for the award three times before turning 20.
Feyenoord manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst, speaking ahead of a Champions League meeting with Barcelona in which Yamal delivered a standout performance, said the Spanish teenager's eventual Ballon d'Or triumph felt like a matter of time rather than possibility. He has the quality to win the Ballon d'Or. The question is when he will win it, van Bronckhorst told reporters.
Statistical measures of performance lend further weight to the comparison. According to data from WhoScored, Messi averaged an match rating above 8.00 in every season between 2009-10 and 2020-21, a run of sustained dominance spanning twelve years. Only one player managed to match that mark in La Liga last season: Yamal, who posted an average rating of 8.23, though that figure remained below Messi's lowest single-season average during his own prime years, an 8.34 mark in 2013-14. This season, Yamal's individual match ratings have climbed even further, registering scores of 7.87, 10, 9.89 and 8.69 across his opening league appearances, an average of 8.63, along with a separate perfect 10 rating in a Champions League appearance against Feyenoord.
Despite the statistical parallels, Yamal's output has not always matched the week-to-week consistency associated with the very best players in the world. He scored just once at this summer's World Cup, and his production, while outstanding for a player his age, has at times trailed the benchmarks set by peak-age stars such as Harry Kane or Mbappe. The recent stretch of braces marks a shift, with Yamal now registering goal contributions with a regularity that had previously eluded him.
Barcelona's current setup differs from the Guardiola-era side that transformed Messi's career, with no comparable tactical revolution underway at the club. Instead, observers point to steady progress under the current coaching staff, growing on-field chemistry between Yamal and teammates including Raphinha and Fermin Lopez, and the addition of World Cup Golden Ball winner Rodri, all factors seen as providing a foundation for Yamal to continue building on his breakthrough form.
With Barcelona sitting atop the La Liga table and Yamal's individual numbers trending toward historic territory, attention now turns to whether the winger can sustain his current level across a full season, and whether that form will be enough to finally deliver the Ballon d'Or that has so far eluded him despite two runner-up finishes in the award's voting.
Source: https://www.ibtimes.com.au/lamine-yamal-barcelona-perfect-la-liga-start-1875508