Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez is not hiding his discomfort.
Barcelona face Porto in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) Group H tie of the 2023-24 season on Friday morning.
The press conference ahead of the match. Xavi was asked the same question again. He was asked to compare Barcelona’s 16-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal to Lionel Messi, the world’s best striker, who also plays for Barcelona.
Yamal has risen through the Barcelona youth ranks to the first team, breaking all of Barcelona’s youngest records. At the age of 16, he was called up to the Spanish national team and scored one goal.
Barcelona recently re-signed Ighalo to a new contract. They have extended his contract until 2026. The buyout is a whopping €1 billion ($1.4257 billion). That’s a lot of money for a player of his stature.
Many people have compared him to Messi. They say that he has the same talent as Messi, and they hope that he will become a great player like him. However, Xavi is very uncomfortable with this question. He warns against comparing Yamal to Messi, and here’s why.
When asked about the Messi comparison, Xavi said, “I hope he will be a part of an era in football. But we can only say that, we’re not doing him any favors. The expectations are high, and the fact is that he is only 16 years old and playing at a brutal level.”
“Don’t compare him to Messi. It would be better to stop comparing and see what the future holds for him. We have not seen players who have been compared to Messi in the past do well.” 메이저사이트
As for Porto, Xavi said: “They are a very good team. They are a historic team that has competed well in the UCL for many years. They like to have the ball, they are physically strong. We have to pay attention to the details. We have to play aggressively and transition well defensively,” he warned.