Yamal stardust could give Barca edge on Inter Milan

Barcelona last reached the Champions League final a decade ago, with Lionel Messi as their torch-bearer.

Now the Catalan giants rely on another generational talent in Lamine Yamal as their 'X-factor' when they host Inter Milan on Wednesday in a semifinal first-leg clash.

At the peak of his powers, Messi scored two brilliant goals in the 2015 semifinal first leg against Bayern Munich on the way to the treble, and while Yamal, 17, is still honing his finishing, he holds the key to the team's potential success this season.

The teenager, left-footed but operating on the right flank with freedom to roam, as Messi did for many years, is what gives Hansi Flick's brilliant Barca their edge.

Yamal showed precisely that in their thrilling Clasico Copa del Rey final victory over Real Madrid on Saturday in Seville, setting up two of Barcelona's three goals.

He has been showing it all season, with 14 goals and 24 assists, and countless but crucial flashes of invention, genius and flair, on the back of his superb Euro 2024 displays with champions Spain last summer.

Flick's attacking Barca has captured the imagination and a grand part of that is due to Yamal.

In Barcelona's city centre, it is rare to walk more than a few minutes without seeing somebody sporting a replica Yamal shirt.

On matchdays, a sea of No 19 shirts ascends the rolling staircases and escalators reaching towards the Olympic stadium on the city's Montjuic hill.

It used to be Messi's No 10, with an array of different Barcelona shirts from different years, or the sky-blue and white stripes of Argentina.

With Yamal, the shirts are identical, given his rise to stardom has been dizzyingly rapid and this is his first season wearing the No 19.

'WE HAVE SEEN A GENIUS'

Should Barcelona win the Champions League, Yamal is a potential Ballon d'Or winner.

Such a feat was hard to imagine so quickly when former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez gave him his debut as a 15-year-old in April 2023 against Real Betis in LaLiga.

Yamal looked a tad intimidated, rightfully so, as the Camp Nou towered up around him, with tens of thousands analysing his every step.

Perhaps it was the one and only time, because ever since then, he has not shown the slightest hint of being daunted.

"I'm surprised by how incredible the (young players') mentality is," said Barcelona captain Ronald Araujo last week.

"They are so calm... these kids from La Masia, it's surprised me a lot."

Yamal's mother was more worried than the youngster himself.

"My mum is afraid for me when I start, but she supports me a lot," he said, while still finding his footing at the club.

Those initial nerves disappeared so quickly and despite his tender age, Yamal began shouldering the creative weight of the team while only 16.

While still awaiting results for his secondary school exams, Yamal cemented his star status with Spain at the Euros in Germany, turning 17 the day before the final.

"We have seen a genius, the work of a genius," gushed Spain coach Luis de la Fuente, after Yamal scored a beautiful goal against France in the semifinals.

He is now essential for Barcelona, who have struggled every time he has not started this season.

While Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha have the lion's share of the goals, so many of those would not be possible without Yamal's input.

Either directly, from his dangerous in-swinging crosses, or indirectly, because of his incisive dribbling to take out three opponents in the build-up.

"Lamine Yamal... he's like Messi. Does he surprise me? No. Everyone knows how good he is, he can dribble past anyone," said former Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde earlier this season.

Yamal, who as a baby in 2007 was remarkably photographed being bathed by then 20-year-old Messi for a charity calendar, has always been wary of the parallels, inevitable as they seem.

"Messi is the best player in history, and being compared to him means I'm doing things right, but I try to be myself," he said in February.

If Yamal can take Barcelona back to the Champions League final, those comparisons will only grow.