{"id":15293,"date":"2025-05-01T09:44:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T04:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=593244"},"modified":"2025-05-01T09:44:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T04:14:23","slug":"is-lamine-yamal-a-ballon-dor-contender-after-his-ucl-brilliance-against-inter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/is-lamine-yamal-a-ballon-dor-contender-after-his-ucl-brilliance-against-inter\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Lamine Yamal a Ballon d\u2019Or contender after his UCL brilliance against Inter?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\" data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Lamine Yamal, the 17-year-old FC Barcelona prodigy, has taken the football world by storm with his dazzling performances in the 2024\/25 UEFA Champions League (UCL) season, particularly in the thrilling 3-3 semifinal first-leg draw against Inter Milan on April 30, 2025. His breathtaking goal and overall impact in this high-stakes match have sparked widespread debate: <em>Is Lamine Yamal a legitimate Ballon d\u2019Or contender? <\/em>Here\u2019s everything you need to know.<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Lamine Yamal\u2019s UCL Masterclass Against Inter Milan<\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the UCL semifinal first leg at Estadi Ol\u00edmpic Llu\u00eds Companys, Barcelona faced a daunting 2-0 deficit within 21 minutes after goals from Inter\u2019s Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries. Enter Lamine Yamal. The teenager ignited Barcelona\u2019s comeback with a stunning 24th-minute goal, weaving past defenders and curling a precise left-footed shot into the top-right corner past Yann Sommer. This strike, described as \u201cinch-perfect\u201d by the UEFA Champions League official account, marked Yamal\u2019s 100th appearance for Barcelona\u2014a remarkable milestone for a player still in his teens.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Yamal\u2019s influence didn\u2019t stop there. He nearly gave Barcelona the lead with a curling effort that struck the crossbar and played a pivotal role in the build-up to an equalizing own goal by Sommer, triggered by a clever dummy on a Dani Olmo corner. His performance earned praise from Inter\u2019s manager Simone Inzaghi, who called him \u201ca phenomenon born every 50 years,\u201d and even caught the attention of Manchester City\u2019s Erling Haaland, who posted, \u201cThis guy is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Is Lamine Yamal a Ballon d\u2019Or contender?<\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">At just 17, Yamal has emerged as a Ballon d\u2019Or contender, due to his extraordinary performances in the 2024\/25 season. With 123 completed take-ons, 25 goal-creating actions, and 14 goals plus 24 assists, his numbers rival top stars. His historic UCL feats, including being the youngest player to score and assist in a single match, and his record-breaking El Cl\u00e1sico goal, highlight his exceptional talent.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Yamal also shone at Euro 2024, where he won Young Player of the Tournament, and his influence in major matches adds to his Ballon d\u2019Or case. A potential Champions League win with Barcelona would only strengthen his chances, possibly making him the youngest winner in history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lamine Yamal, the 17-year-old FC Barcelona prodigy, has taken the football world by storm with his dazzling performances in the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":36581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3348,3738,490],"class_list":["post-15293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-inter","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-ucl"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}