Lamine Yamal, making the extraordinary look perfunctory since 2007. Just when you thought Barcelona’s young superstar had hit the upper ceiling of what could reasonably be expected from a 17-year-old on a football pitch, he goes and blows a hole in a Champions League knockout tie with two of the most outstanding moments of brilliance the competition has seen this season, and does them in the same half of football.

The Assist

Sending Florentino flying to the floor and Nicolas Otamendi crashing into Robert Lewandowski’s inadvertent ball screen, Yamal went flying into the box, space opening up to try to bend it into the far corner. Only the youngster will know if that is what he was trying to do. What he did was curl the ball away from goal and right into Raphinha’s stride for the opening goal.

LAMINE YAMAL WHAT HAVE YOU JUST DONE?! 🤯
The 17-year-old finds Raphinha after a run for the ages 😳
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 11, 2025

If anyone other than maybe half a dozen players on the planet did that you’d call it a shank with confidence. At an age where he cannot legally vote in an election, Yamal’s decision making and technical ability is such that you have to at least consider the possibility that he meant it.

There was no doubt about his goal, the strike which restored Barcelona’s two-goal aggregate lead over Benfica after Nicolas Otamendi had struck from a corner. Picking the ball up near the right sideline, Yamal blew past one challenge but his touch was taking him away from goal as he drew level with the edge of the box. Again that seemed to be no matter.

With the most minimal of back-lift and next to no strike-through, Yamal met the ball in stride. The bend he imparted on it left Anatolii Trubin without a chance of getting close to it. Even for a youngster with his own immaculate scoring scrapbook, this might just be the pick of the lot.

LAMINE YAMAL STUNS BENFICA…AGAIN 🤩🔥
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 11, 2025

Barcelona would go on to add more to their lead when Raphinha finished off a swift counter just before half time. The Brazilian might have ended this game with two goals but unquestionably it was Yamal’s day. Yet again.

At 17 years, 241 days, Yamal became the youngest player to score and assist in a Champions League game, beating Breel Embolo’s previous record by three weeks and a day. Lionel Messi, perhaps the last player to look this good at this young an age, scored and assisted in a 5-0 win over Panathinaikos at 18 years, 131 days.

Yamal and company are now the first side officially in the hat for the quarterfinals of the Champions League. That looks like another major occasion to bend to the will of a teenager, perhaps smashing his way through Inter’s high grade defense.

Every time Yamal takes to the pitch, it feels a matter of when—not if—he’ll overwhelm an elite defense.