The clear edge Lamine Yamal has over Kylian Mbappe ahead of biggest clash yet | OneFootball

Kylian Mbappe has a shocking record when it comes to games against Lamine Yamal. Will that trend continue as they face off in their biggest clash yet?

Yamal has come out on top in 80% of his meetings with Mbappe for club and country, winning eight of the 10 matches in which they’ve faced each other.

That’s an extraordinary return. Mbappe’s 20% return, meanwhile, looks remarkably out of place given how relentlessly successful his career has been.

A 16-year-old Yamal set the tone for the shape of the rivalry when the two players shared the pitch for the first time – in the Champions League quarter-finals back in April 2024. He didn’t score or assist, but he caught the eye with a lively performance as Barcelona produced a 3-2 victory away to Luis Enrique’s side in the first leg.

Yamal then assisted Raphinha, who’d scored twice in Paris, just 12 minutes into the return leg, giving Barca a two-goal aggregate lead.

But from there, the pendulum swung quite dramatically in the other direction after Ronald Araujo’s red card for a last-man challenge. The teenager was withdrawn for defender Inigo Martinez in a tactical switch, and PSG went on to turn the tie around with four unanswered goals – with Mbappe scoring their third and fourth.

A couple of months later, Yamal had his revenge over Mbappe when he produced a man-of-the-match performance, with a long-range strike surely the standout moment of his fledgling career so far, as Spain came from behind to beat France 2-1 in the Euro 2024 semi-finals.

That summer, Mbappe made his long-awaited move to Real Madrid, but his debut season didn’t quite go as planned.

With Yamal flourishing into a superstar, Barcelona won a domestic treble at Los Blancos’ expense, winning no fewer than four El Clasicos across all competitions and scoring a mammoth tally of 16 goals.

Mbappe was caught offside no fewer than eight times, while Yamal scored Barcelona’s third as Barcelona thrashed Madrid 4-0 at the Bernabeu in the first Clasico of the Yamal vs Mbappe era at the Bernabeu in October 2024.

Yamal continued to shine as Barcelona beat Madrid in the finals of the Spanish Supercopa and Copa del Rey. Mbappe scored a hat-trick in the second league meeting that season, but it was Yamal’s Barcelona who ran out 4-3 winners on the night.

The rising star further rubbed salt into Mbappe’s wounds by scoring twice in Spain’s madcap 5-4 victory over France in last summer’s Nations League semi-finals.

Mbappe finally ended his winless run against both Barcelona and Yamal when he scored in Real Madrid’s 2-1 La Liga victory last October.

Yamal then came out on top again as Barcelona won the Supercopa 3-2 in January, with Mbappe only fit enough for a late substitute appearance after struggling with a knock. Neither player featured when Barca sealed the title with a 2-0 Clasico win in May.

Here’s a full breakdown of Mbappe and Yamal’s records when they’ve faced off in head-to-head games: