Lamine Yamal calls Messi the best player in history, opens up about injury and forging his own path

Lamine Yamal, the teenager who has spent much of his young career being compared to Lionel Messi, just made his position on that comparison crystal clear. In an interview with RTVE, the 18-year-old Barcelona winger declared Messi the best player in football history, adding that he cannot reach the Argentine’s level.

The timing of the statement is hard to ignore. Messi had just scored a hat-trick against Algeria at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The kid speaks, and he’s not trying to be Messi

Yamal’s comments to RTVE, reported around June 19-20, carry a layered message. On one hand, he’s offering unqualified praise for a player who redefined the sport. On the other, he’s drawing a line in the sand about his own identity.

In a separate 60 Minutes interview that aired around June 14-15, Yamal said he aims to follow his own path. He wants to build a legacy that stands on its own terms, not one measured in units of Messi.

He also named Neymar as his personal idol, not Messi. That distinction matters. It suggests Yamal is deliberately trying to shape a narrative around his career that borrows from different influences rather than being a Messi sequel.

Messi himself has acknowledged Yamal, previously calling him a player from the new generation who resembles his younger self.

A World Cup complicated by injury

The 2026 World Cup, hosted across the US, Canada, and Mexico, was supposed to be Yamal’s coming-out party on the biggest stage. Instead, he’s navigating it with a hamstring injury that has limited his availability.

Yamal admitted he is “not ready” for full matches ahead of Spain’s June 21 group stage fixture against Saudi Arabia.

The challenge of longevity at the top

Yamal’s comments about career longevity touch on something that rarely gets discussed when fans are busy marveling at teenage prodigies. Staying at the top of professional football for a decade or more is a fundamentally different challenge than breaking through.

Messi’s career is the ultimate case study. He debuted for Barcelona’s first team as a teenager and maintained elite-level performance for roughly two decades.

Yamal seems aware that his current trajectory, however impressive, is just the opening chapter. His acknowledgment that he cannot play at Messi’s level reads less like false modesty and more like a realistic assessment from someone who understands what sustained greatness actually demands.

His decision to speak openly about not being ready for full match action, rather than pushing through and risking a longer absence, suggests maturity beyond his years.

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