Beyond the flair: Why Barcelona star Lamine Yamal is more than just a dribbling maestro – Analysis | OneFootball

FC Barcelona are blessed to have a player like Lamine Yamal in their ranks who makes the extraordinary look easy. At just 17 years of age, the Spaniard is one of the very best in his position and is putting up some mind-boggling numbers.

Against Benfica midweek in the Champions League, the teenager stepped up in some style, providing a world-class assist to Raphinha to kick-start proceedings. Soon after, in the game, the Spanish international curled in a peach of a goal that left watchers looking on in disbelief.

Lamine adds so much attacking dimension to Hansi Flick’s team and is one of the first names on the team sheet. He has formed a beautiful partnership with Raphinha and the Spaniard’s playmaking is crucial to Barcelona’s success in most games.

That said, what makes the Spaniard special is his ability to take his man on at will. Usually, it’s not just one man that he takes on. Lamine is capable of going past an entire team on his own and he hardly seems to break a sweat doing that.

At a time when football is moving more and more away from flair and into a very rigid, tactical and micro-controlled space, players like Lamine are a breath of fresh air as he never shies away from taking his man on progressing play.

Now, as per stats from DataMB [image attached], Barcelona attacking star Lamine Yamal ranks among the very best in dribbling numbers, putting up excellent stats both in terms of number of dribbles attempted and successful dribbles per 90.

Lamine Yamal’s dribble numbers compared to wingers in the T-5 leagues [Source: DataMB]

As seen in the plot, among all wingers in the conventional top-5 leagues of Europe, Lamine Yamal’s dribbling numbers are only behind Manchester City star Jeremy Doku, who has played far fewer games than the Spaniard this season.

On average, Lamine attempts 11.51 dribbles per 90, completing 6.35 out of them. That is practically more than one dribble completed for every two attempted. To provide more perspective, the mean lies at around 3.9 dribbles attempted per 90 and 2 of them being successful.

This is a clear indication that Lamine’s numbers are not just abnormal, they are off the charts. For example, one player with whom he is competing with for the best right-winger tag in the world right now is Mohamed Salah, and the Egyptian averages 5.21 dribbles per 90 with just 2.32 of them being successful.

Of course, football is definitely not only about dribbling, but the ability to successfully take on their opponent is what sets apart a winger who can be a differential on his own from a winger who needs a system to function.

When you factor this in along with the fact that Lamine is also one of the most creative players in La Liga, topping the assists chart at the time of writing, it further goes on to state that the 17-year-old is not just about the dribbling but brings much more to the table.

Jeremy Doku, for example, might be an excellent dribbler as the numbers clearly suggest, but his end product has often let a lot to be desired. The plot below paints a clear picture on the difference between the two.

The focus in this plot is only on Lamine Yamal and Jeremy Doku. The Manchester City winger, who is an even more prolific dribbler than the Spaniard, creates close to one chance less than the Barcelona winger per game.

As good a dribbler as Lamine is, it is his ability to blend that skill with creativity that truly sets him apart at such a young age. To say that Barcelona have a cheat code in attack would be an understatement and that is the quality that the Spaniard possesses.

Going forward, Lamine will want to add more goals to his game. If he manages to do that, then he will be unstoppable as an attacking force and one can only hope his magic can continue in a Barcelona shirt for years to come.