Lamine Yamal has just scored his 20th career goal for both Barcelona and the Spanish national team – but how do his numbers compare to Lionel Messi's all-time record?
The Spanish prodigy scored the opening goal in the 47th minute against Atalanta in the final match of the UEFA Champions League group phase.
Hansi Flick's team continued the game in a 2-2 draw, but had already secured their position in the Round of 16 by securing one of the top eight spots, thus avoiding a first-round knockout.
Interestingly, Yamal was disappointed with his substitution in stoppage time, with his team pushing for a comeback and he spoke after the match to clarify the situation.
“Everyone wants to get on the field. I want to play as much as possible, but so do my teammates on the bench. Flick told me to relax, that it was a good game and now focus on La Liga.”
He committed to a contract of one billion dollars, which means he is likely to stay with the club for many years to come, and quite possibly the majority of his career.
He may well look to emulate the great Lionel Messi, who, much like him, made a startling debut at an extremely young age after graduating from the prestigious La Masia academy.
Messi scored his first goal at 17 years of age, whereas Yamal achieved this in merely 16 years and 87 days.
Although Messi's 672 goals for Barca currently stand out as an impressive benchmark, Yamal remains determined to pursue this record, having already proven himself a valuable asset to his country in the 2024 European Championship triumph. This season, he will focus on winning the La Liga title and other significant honors, in addition to his primary objective.
In terms of the statistics, Messi attained 20 goals in 2,314 fewer minutes, while maintaining a better goals-per-minute ratio.
However, Yamal has totalled significantly more assists at the 20-goal point, granting him a slightly superior minutes per goal or assist ratio of 134.
Additionally, the Spaniard accomplished the feat nine months earlier, but he was much more present on the scene, appearing in 29 more matches and making that many more starts throughout.
Here's a comparison of the numbers against each other.
We have compared the milestones in terms of time and games played to reach 20 career goals for both club and country, including statistics on penalties achieved, assists made, and total minutes played up to the point where the 20th goal was scored to provide additional context.
Lamine Yamal
Games: 96 (6,279 minutes)
Time: One year nine months and one day
Goals: 20
Penalties: 0
Assists: 27
Minutes per goal: 314
314
134
Lionel Messi
Games: 67 (3,905 minutes)
Time: Two years, six months, two days
20
Penalties: 0
Assists: 6
Minutes per goal: 195
195
150
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