17-year-old Barca star dazzles with wonder goal in epic CL semi draw with Inter
Barcelona and Inter Milan played out a Champions League semi-final for the ages, with the Spanish giants held 3-3 at home after the Italians twice squandered the lead.
A seething, soaring match full of moments of individual brilliance sets up a return leg in six days.
A new era of the UEFA Champions League is here, only on Stan Sport.
Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal shone brighter than all in his 100th game for the club with a stunning strike, while Inter’s Denzel Dumfries grabbed a brace.
“This is Pele levels in my opinion… 17 years of age and playing in a way that in a semi-final of the Champions League, the premier sporting competition in the world, basically changing the game on his own. I don’t say this lightly but that was Pele-esque,” said former Socceroo Mark Bosnich on Stan Sport, comparing Yamal to the great Brazilian master, who won the first of his three World Cups as a 17-year-old in 1958.
The goal made him the youngest player to score in a Champions League semi-final, breaking the record held by Kylian Mbappe.
His Stan co-host and also former Socceroos player Craig Foster compared him to another more contemporary No.10, Lionel Messi, who dominated the game in his years with Barcelona.
A new era of the UEFA Champions League is here, only on Stan Sport.
“When you factor in his age, then it just becomes crazy,” said Foster. “He had already in La Liga, I think 24 assists already this season, which I’m pretty sure is equal with Messi’s best, or any Barca player over the last decade, and you’ve still got games to go.
“So, when you look at what he’s actually achieved and the Euros, in which, in the final, he was the key player, you’re talking about a generational talent. There’s no question about it.
“When he does this, it’s hard to argue that he is not actually the world’s best already. We thought that [Kylian] Mbappe was going to be there by now, and he hasn’t done it. And when he went to Real Madrid, we thought, OK, he might just take those Ballon d’Ors. Well, this kid is looking now as though no one else has this level of quality.
“So, you say Pele-esque, which is absolutely right. The quality that he showed in the first half, you have to compare against the very best players. But it’s certainly Messi-esque.
“There’s no question about that. Because he’s in the same shirt. The expectation is massive. He’s constantly compared to him. He’s put into these situations where they’re in trouble. You’re in the biggest games, whether it’s finals, semifinals, and he’s just saying, give me the ball, and no one is going to stop me.”
The teams are clearly well matched – it was their second meeting in Barcelona in this season’s competition and their previous battle finished 3-3 as well.
The first half exploded into life from the start as Inter’s Marcus Thuram opened the scoring after just 30 seconds, beating Wojciech Szcezny with an audacious backheel flick before Dumfries doubled Inter’s advantage with an overhead kick.
Yamal, who had appeared to pick up an injury in the warm up, got stuck in, dancing past five defenders to curl a left-foot shot into the top corner.
Ferran Torres brought the teams level on 38 minutes before Dumfries second edged Inter ahead again from a 63rd minute corner.
But parity was restored two minutes later when Yamal dummied to allow Raphinha to send a rocket onto the crossbar. The ball came back and went over the line off the keeper Yann Sommer.
There was a late twist as Inter’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan had the ball in the net after a cross. The former Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United and Arsenal player had strayed offside and the goal was chalked off.
“I feel very gutted. Unfortunately, maybe it was two-three centimetres,” said Mkhitaryan . “This is football and you can not do anything. My will was too much to score this goal and maybe I rushed offside.
“It was a crazy game.
“A great game to watch, but not to play as it was very hard.
“We have done our best, but I think we could have done even better. We were leading for 20 minutes, it’s just that Barca put lots of pressure on us.
“They were very good with the ball. Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep it 3-2.”
