Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal has heaped praise on Lionel Messi ahead of a potential blockbuster meeting between Spain and Argentina in the Finalissima 2026. Speaking to CBS, the 19-year-old attacker expressed deep admiration for the Argentine icon while making it clear that he intends to forge his own legacy in world football.<\/p>\n
Yamal, who has emerged as one of Spain\u2019s brightest talents, did not hesitate to acknowledge Messi\u2019s greatness. \u201cLeo Messi\u2019s the GOAT,\u201d he said, emphasizing the unmatched influence the Argentine captain has had on the sport. With Spain scheduled to face Argentina in the upcoming Finalissima, the fixture is already generating anticipation, especially with the possibility of Yamal sharing the pitch with his idol.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect Messi for what he was, and for what he is for football. If we meet on the pitch that day, there will be mutual respect. He\u2019s the best in history,\u201d Yamal added, reinforcing the admiration he holds for the eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner.<\/p>\n
However, the young forward also clarified that despite the comparisons often drawn between rising stars and established legends, he has no desire to emulate Messi\u2019s path. \u201cWe both know that I don\u2019t want to be Messi and Messi knows that I don\u2019t want to be him\u2026 I just want to follow my own path, and that\u2019s all there is to it,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal has heaped praise on Lionel Messi ahead of a potential blockbuster meeting between Spain and Argentina\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":37213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[660,661,3686,1823,4304,3796,1818,3648,3738,487,239,3875],"class_list":["post-16570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-argentina","tag-barcelona","tag-david-ornstein","tag-fabrizio-romano","tag-finalissima-2026","tag-football","tag-goat","tag-inter-miami","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-lionel-messi","tag-messi","tag-yamal"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16570","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\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}