FC Barcelona suffered their first loss of the Hansi Flick era to AS Monaco in the Champions League. The 2-1 defeat served as a timely reminder to the club that not everything is plain sailing and that they need to be much more aware in Europe’s prestigious club competition.
The Catalan club’s loss to the French giants last night could largely be attributed to one man – Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. The German number one had a game to forget, making mistake after mistake to cost his team.
It was his outrageous pass that got Eric Garcia sent off 10 minutes into the game. He should have done better for both goals that Barcelona conceded as well. His distribution throughout the game was sketchy, to say the least.
On the other hand, one player who continues in his own merry ways was Lamine Yamal. The Barcelona wonderkid scored an incredible goal against the run of play to bring his team to level terms in the first half.
Post the game, discussing on ‘The Champions Club’ program on CBS Sports Golazo, pundit Nigel Reo-Coker made a revelation that he thinks Lamine Yamal ranks ahead of Liverpool star Mohamed Salah. Here is what he had to say:
“I would pick Lamine over Mo Salah. Yes, I would. You asked me a question, and I answered it. I’ll pick him.”
The 17-year-old has started this season on a different level. He has come up with a goal contribution in every single game for Barcelona so far. He has scored four goals and provided four assists in six games across all competitions for the club.
The consistency at which Lamine is playing football is incredible. Purely based on the impact that he is having on the pitch, one can safely put him right up there with Salah as the best right-winger in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo recently also tipped him to become one of the best of his generation.
However, it might be too early to say he is better than Salah. As good as Lamine is, it is important to stay in the moment and the sample size is very marginal. It remains to be seen if the 17-year-old can surpass the Egyptian’s legacy in the years to come.
