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First player since 1934
©IMAGO
Barcelona surged four points clear at the top of LaLiga thanks to Lamine Yamal's sensational hat-trick, marking a historic day for the club and their generational talent. The 18-year-old became the third youngest player in history to score his maiden treble in the 4-1 win over Villarreal with a sublime solo goal to cap a remarkable individual performance. The fact that it was two other La Masia graduates, Fermín López (two) and Pedri, that supplied the goals for him only made the occasion even sweeter.
At the age of 18 years and 230 days, Yamal became the youngest player to hit his first treble in LaLiga this century. Yamal also became the third youngest player to achieve this feat in history, only beaten by José Iraragorri (Athletic Bilbao), who was 17 years and 337 days old when he scored three goals in a single match in 1930. Pablo Pombo (Racing Santander) was only 30 days younger than Yamal when he did the same in 1934.
On the same path as Messi and Ronaldo
But perhaps a more pertinent comparison is how he compares with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two teenage prodigies who exploded to become two of the greatest players of all time. Yamal surpassed Messi with his treble as the Argentinian had to wait until he was 19 years old before celebrating his first career hat-trick against Real Madrid in 2007. Ronaldo, meanwhile, did so in the Premier League with Manchester United in 2008 when he was 22.
The Spain international is already one of the key members in this Barcelona squad, which is remarkable considering his young age. Some 33 months after his debut at the tender age of 15, Yamal now has 43 goals and 48 assists in his 140 appearances for the Blaugrana and many would expect him to hit the 100-goal contribution mark before both Messi and Ronaldo, who had to wait until they were 21 before they hit the same milestone.
Leading the title fight for Barcelona
It wouldn't be a huge surprise to see him achieve that this season, given his impressive return of 18 goals and 14 assists in just 34 games. He is already Barca's most potent attackers in terms of goals and assists with 32 - Fermín is the next highest on 25.
There is no telling how close he will get to matching the peak levels of Messi and Ronaldo, who made 50-goal seasons look like ordinary work a lot of the time, and it would be wrong to expect those levels of Yamal until he is well into his mid-20s anyway. However, he already has a market value of €200 million, comfortably making him the most valuable Under-21 player and the joint-most valuable player in the world.
Those who watched the iconic duo destroy their opponents in Spain and Europe in the 2010s were perhaps safe in thinking it would never happen again. But Yamal is already rewriting those records set before him - it would be frankly reductionist to assume there aren't more he can topple in the future.
