Lamine Yamal’s nutmeg & outrageous trivela sent his opponent for a bocadillo | OneFootball

Being a teenager is a constant mental battle with common emotions that you aren’t fully mature enough to handle.

Relationships. Navigating the job market. Realising what’s truly important in life. And dealing with impotent frustration.

Lamine Yamal gave a masterclass in impotent frustration during Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid, refusing to celebrate Robert Lewandowski’s late winner.

We’ve all seen that level of stubborn petulance and, crucially, experienced it ourselves. It’s divorced of all context and places the self-emotions over the wider picture.

Since scoring a hat trick against Villarreal in February, the 18-year-old has managed just three goals in his last nine games for club and country. Two of those have been penalties. The fuel for personal frustration is obvious.

Yet Yamal still produced the game’s best moment of quality, a mind-bending pass that might just be one of the best you’ve ever seen.

With the Metropolitano night in its early stages, Yamal received a sweeping crossfield pass inside his own half. He had to jump to chest control the ball as Nico Gonzalez closed in. The odds were stacked against the attacker.

Yet Yamal has a habit of taking your breath away. He sent Gonzalez out for a bocadillo with the cheekiest of nutmegs, before sweeping an imperious trivela into the path of Fermin Lopez.

Crowded out by two Atletico defenders, Fermin was unable to ensure Yamal’s pass was crowned appropriately.

“He was a little bit angry,” Hansi Flick confirmed in the post-game news conference. “He gave everything, he tried to score goals and give the last pass. It’s normal.

“Of course he has emotion. This was the game, with emotion, but he’s in the dressing room and everything is good.”

Flick’s response was teasingly vague, but he said Yamal’s temper did not stem from his performance against Atletico.

The Barca manager backed his game-breaking talent to have ridden the hormonal wave when the two teams meet in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.

“I don’t know exactly [why he was angry], but [there was] a lot of emotion in the game and Lamine tried everything to score the second goal.

“We have three days now to prepare for the next match… he will be in a better mood than after the game.”

This victory lifted Barca seven clear of Madrid with just eight games to play after the latter’s defeat to Real Mallorca, while Atletico remain fourth.

“Everyone knows they were big points today, this match day was very important for us,” Flick added of extending the advantage over Madrid. “But everyone knows [La Liga is] not done. We’re happy, but we didn’t celebrate.”

Yamal certainly took those words to their literal interpretation. Flick’s indulgence was understandable; it’s hard to imagine a fringe player being allowed such leeway, but a fringe player wouldn’t possess Yamal’s game-changing ability.

Perhaps when he’s fully matured, he’ll look back at his mind-bending pass with pride rather than disdainful scorn.

Even a player of his talent has some growing to do, but this was a dictionary definition of teenagehood in all its prodigality and petulance.