Lamine Yamal is right now the most decisive and influential player in LaLiga. And it is not only a subjective question for many fans, but it can be corroborated with objective data. The first and most relevant is that with the young talent as a starter, Barcelona has won all of its games: 12 starts and 12 victories. All the bad results that Barcelona has had in LaLiga – three defeats (Osasuna, Real Sociedad and Las Palmas) and a draw (Celta) – have been with the absence of the player or starting from the bench. With Yamal from the beginning, Barcelona has always won. Obviously, data of this forcefulness already clearly reflects the degree of dependence that exists in the team with respect to Lamine.
And his impact on the game goes far beyond his goals (5) and assists (8). His presence on the field not only guarantees imbalance, resources, versatility and depth on the right wing, but also forces the rival to take two or three steps back, locking themselves in behind and making it an almost impossible mission to reach the area defended by Iñaki Peña in conditions. .
At 17 years old, Yamal is now the cornerstone of Flick’s project. The short period that he was out due to problems with his right ankle coincided with the worst streak since the German coach arrived, squandering a good part of the advantage he had in the standings over Real Madrid and Atlético.
And Lamine should not only be valued for what he does on the field, but also because he improves the rest of his teammates.. Jules Koundé is another when Yamal is not there and what can we say about Robert Lewandowski, who played one of his worst games of the season against Las Palmas.
Evidently, andThe risk that exists in the face of such enormous talent in the workforce is that a degree of dependency is generated around it that is very difficult to manage.. If at 17 you are already at the top of the pyramid, what can happen when you are two or three years older? This radical degree of exposure worries and worries within the club, aware that it can become a backpack that is too heavy for such a young player..
Right now, within the squad, only Raphinha and Pedri have been able to take a step forward in the absence of Yamal. The rest of the footballers, for one reason or another, have seen their performance affected. Some in a superlative way, as in the case of Koundé, who has dropped in performance at an alarming rate, with the very serious error against Celta as the epitome, while others like Lewandowski have seen his scoring efficiency falter.
And if in LaLiga this dependence is absolute, in the Champions League it also follows the same paths. The only exception was the match against Monaco, where Barcelona lost (2-1) with Yamal in the eleven. But it is also true that there are two caveats that should be noted: the first is that Flick’s team played almost 80 minutes outnumbered due to the expulsion of Eric García and the second is that Yamal scored the goal for the Blaugrana.
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