‘Special talent’ – Newcastle’s Lewis Hall ahead of facing Lamine Yamal | OneFootball

Newcastle United left-back Lewis Hall hailed “special talent” Lamine Yamal ahead of his battle against the Barcelona winger.

“It goes without saying he’s obviously a special talent,” Hall said about Yamal. “I’ve seen him play in enough Champions League games, I know what he’s about.

“So for me, if I’m selected, I’m really looking forward to it. I want to test myself against the best players in the world. No better opportunity to do so than the game tomorrow. Really looking forward to it.

“We know the qualities that Lamine Yamal has. But it’s a team game and they have so many talented players in their team. We’ve obviously analysed them a lot, what things we need to do to hurt them and how we can prevent them from hurting us.”

The 18-year-old winger has established himself as one of the top talents in world football for Barcelona. Hall continued: “If you go on to a football pitch fearing or worry about anything, that instantly puts you on the back foot.

“My relationship with him is no different to any other player. I know the moments that he can produce, I know what he’s like as a player.

“But they have so many different threats in their team that to single one out individually, as good a player as he is, that would not be a smart thing to do.”

Newcastle will feature in the Champions League round of 16 for the first time in the club’s history on Tuesday night.

Hall insisted: “We’re really excited as a team. Obviously the round of 16 is something that the club’s not been in before and we know it’s a really important game for us as a club, for me as a fan.

“We’re all really excited and looking forward to hopefully putting a good performance in.

“I truly believe as a member of our team that we can beat anyone on our day. We’ve got a lot of quality, a lot of passion and obviously we’ve got a really passionate set of supporters as well. We’re all looking forward to tomorrow and it’s a massive opportunity for us.”