Lamine Yamal vs. Lionel Messi at the Same Age: Who Had Better Stats?

Lamine Yamal continues his career in Barcelona, and Lionel Messi in Inter Miami. They both have one thing in common other than being footballers: they are among the greatest stars of this sport. Messi achieved many successes when he was Yamal’s age, while Yamal has already completed countless milestones. Thanks to these achievements, he is considered the biggest candidate to take Messi’s throne.

So, how true is this? If we compare the performances of football players of the same age, would we see that they are the same or is there a big difference? Here, we will try to answer this question by making a detailed comparison. If you want to take a short break from looking at the careers of professional athletes and have a good time, we recommend you visit the Roulette77 platform. Here, you can find a lot of interesting information about this game, including free roulette. For example, did you know you can increase your chances of winning with the Freddy’s Triangle strategy?

Early Career Comparison

Both Messi and Yamal started playing at a young age. Although both were spotted at Barcelona's famous La Masia academy, Yamal started playing professional football much earlier.

• Messi debuted at 17 and played with stars Ronaldinho and Rafa Marquez in his first pro game.
• Yamal began at 15 years old, and thus, he began his career nearly 2 years prior. The primary reason for this was that Barcelona did not wish to spend much on a transfer but to use their talent pool.

Statistical Comparison

First, let’s share some statistics. Both players have different data to compare, but we believe it would be fairest to compare their performances during their time at Barcelona.

Since he started his career almost twenty years ago, it is normal for Messi to be ahead in terms of goals and assists. Therefore, we need to go back to the beginning of their careers. Yamal reached 19 goals and 7 assists in two years when Messi was his debut age. Messi is a footballer who reached 26 goals in the same period (two years). With simple math, we can see that the goal contribution ratio is 2.8 for Yamal and 2.5 for Messi. Therefore, Messi is a little ahead, but it is also important to remember that Barcelona in his era was a different team than the current one.

Their Achievements

We can also compare the two players based on their career achievements. Once again, Messi has more achievements because he has had a longer career, but there are other factors to consider.

• Yamal has the distinction of being the youngest player to play professionally for a Spanish team. He also has the distinction of being the youngest scorer of the 21st century. Frankly, he is better than Messi in all the “youngest ever” achievements.
• Yamal has won the Kopa Trophy (world’s best young player), the Globe Soccer Award for Emerging Player, and the Tuttosport’s Youngest very early in his career. Messi also won these awards, but only after he was well into his career.

If we look at the total number of achievements, Messi is, of course, ahead, as there is a 20-year difference between him and Yamal. For example, he has won the Best FIFA Men’s Player award four times and the UEFA Best Player in EU award three times. However, these are awards he won after completing the first decade of his career. Looking at the early stages, we can say that Lamine Yamal achieved more success in a shorter time.

In general, Yamal is on the fast track to the Ballon d'Or award and has started his career faster than Messi. However, we see the real performances of football players in their late teenage years, so it is too early to claim that Yamal is the "next Messi". Although he has a lot of potential, we will all see in a few years whether he can sit on Messi's throne.