Courtesy: UEFA/X
Lamine Yamal, 17, scored a wonder goal in his 100th appearance for Barcelona, to help spark a comeback against Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) semi-finals first leg at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona. After going two goals down in early stages at home, Lamine Yamal kick-started Barcelona’s resurgence, and the highly competitive match ended with a 3-3 scoreline, which isn’t a bad result for Inter Milan going into the second leg at the San Siro next week.
The opening goal of the UCL semi-finals first leg came from Marcus Thuram for Inter Milan in the 1st minute, and it was followed up by Denzel Dumfries putting his team in a 2-0 lead in the 21st minute. Following that, in the 24th minute, Lamine Yamal drifted inside from the left and managed to go past several Inter Milan defenders before taking an exquisite left-foot shot at goal, and the ball hit the inside of the post prior to landing into the back of the net.
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He's special, he's a genius. In the big matches, he shows up: Hansi Flick on Lamine Yamal
This was the 22nd goal for Lamine Yamal in his 100th appearance for Barcelona, and he already has 33 assists to his name in all competitions, which is quite a staggering feat for any young player, let alone a 17-year-old. Ferran Torres levelled the scoreline at 2-2 with a goal in the 38th minute after Raphinha headed down the crossfield ball from Pedri perfectly into his path.
In the second half, Inter Milan took the lead once again with Denzel Dumfries scoring his second on the night in the 63rd minute, but then, in an unfortunate moment, Yann Sommer, the goalkeeper, conceded an own goal. After the completion of the match with a 3-3 scoreline, Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick was quoted as saying about Lamine Yamal, as per BBC Sport, “He's special, he's a genius. In the big matches, he shows up. If it only comes every 50 years like Simone said, I'm glad it's for Barcelona.”
His comments came just after Intern Milan coach Simone Inzaghi praised Yamal, and said, “Lamine is the kind of talent that comes along every 50 years, and to see him up close really impressed me. He caused us huge problems because we were supposed to double up on him and it wasn't enough.”
