Lamine Yamal becomes youngest player to start LaLiga game for Barcelona
The forward made his first start for the club in an official game vs. Cadiz on Sunday
Being a teenager has its advantages: a sense of self-confidence and freshness come as standard, and if the Barça first-team coach invites you to start a league game, you have to show it.
On Sunday, it was the turn of Lamine Yamal, Barça's young forward, so young that he became the youngest player ever to start a league game for Barça.
Lamine, one of the sensations of preseason, was baptised as a starter in LaLiga at the age of 16 years and 38 days, a record in the club's history.
It was not a purely statistical matter: far from hiding in his youth, Lamine made the most of it, as only the most irreverent youngsters know how to do.
He asked for the ball without hesitation and when he had it, he faced up to anyone who got in front of him. He was Barça's best player for much of the match, or at least the freshest, the most dynamic.
When Barça failed to perform, the team relied on the inspiration of their youngest player. If there were any doubts about his ability to play for Barça, they were dispelled in his first league game as a starter. Xavi relied on him as a replacement for the suspended Raphinha and he did not disappoint.
The system was slightly asymmetrical, because Lamine had to play as a right winger, with Lewandowski as the offensive reference, and the left flank free for Balde or sporadically Pedri.
Lamine didn't mind: he is one of those players who have that delicious anarchy of pure dribblers, a player who escapes tactics and blackboards, and who promises to get the Montjuïc spectators off their seats in more than one match.
The teenager had enough fuel to play the whole game, but Xavi preferred to take him off the pitch in the 84th minute: it was the right change, because Lamine won the stadium's applause (more than deserved) and his substitute, Ferran Torres, had the good fortune to score the second goal, which closed the game.
