‘Truly a unique talent’… Javier Zanetti full of praise for one Barcelona star after seeing him in action at San Siro | OneFootball

FC Barcelona had a very successful 2024-25 season in which they won the La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup titles. The Blaugranes also came very close to the UEFA Champions League final, but were unable to make it to this stage as they were eliminated by Inter Milan in the semi-finals of the competition.

However, even in this semi-final, the Catalans put in an excellent performance, with the young winger Lamine Yamal shining in particular. In fact, the tie against Inter Milan saw some of the best performances from the forward this season.

Javier Zanetti full of praise for Lamine Yamal

Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images

One of the individuals who saw his performance at San Siro live was the former Argentine defender and current Vice President of Inter Milan, Javier Zanetti. As Mundo Deportivo has reported, the Italian recently appeared in an interview in which he praised the Blaugrana star.

Talking about Yamal, the Nerazzurri legend highlighted some of his best talents:

“An incredible player. Truly a unique talent — very fast, whether with his right or left foot. He’s only 17 and has already played over 100 matches. Honestly, he has a great future ahead of him.”

Still early to compare with Messi

Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

However, despite these abilities, Zanetti believed it was still early to compare Yamal to Lionel Messi:

“As of today, yes, because Messi was the best for a long time. He stayed at the top with a level of consistency that’s honestly very hard to maintain, and Leo always showed that — for me, he’s the essence of football. If Lamine manages to do that with consistency, he’ll surely be up there on that podium. But right now, truthfully, comparing him to Messi is very premature.”

Further talking about the young winger, the Italian revealed that he had also congratulated Joan Laporta for having such an incredible player:

“Different, very fast, very calm. We’re talking about a 17-year-old kid, but with a great personality. A player who always wants the ball. Honestly, Barcelona — I spoke about it with Laporta — has an extraordinary player.”

Lamine Yamal has received praise from almost every quarter in the last few weeks, but it is still good to see legends of the game like Javier Zanetti speak so highly of the Barcelona forward. Hopefully, Yamal will continue to delight the spectators with his amazing football for years to come.