Barcelona star Lamine Yamal has given a new interview to CBS Sports and been asked once again about the continued comparisons with club legend Lionel Messi.
The teenager has had to live with such talk throughout his young career so far but has made it clear once again that he is very much his own player.
“I think that I respect him, in the end, for what he’s been, for what he is to soccer, and if we ever meet one day on a soccer field, there’ll be that mutual respect. He’s the best in history,” he said.
“We both know I don’t want to be Messi, and Messi knows I don’t want to be him. I want to follow my own path, and that’s it.“
Much has been made of Yamal’s rapid rise and huge famous in recent months, and the teenager was also asked whether those close to him are able to stop him from dropping anything he wants.
Yamal replied: “The truth is that everyone says ‘No.’ Everyone in my circle says ‘No’ to everything. If I want to go out: ‘No.’ If I say that I want to go out to eat: ‘No.’ The question should be: ‘Who do you listen to?’ My mother.”
