Comparing Lamine Yamal’s Barcelona stats after 100 matches with Lionel Messi’s
Lamine Yamal has now played 100 games for Barcelona, but how does his record compare to Lionel Messi’s after the same number of matches?
Plenty of youngsters have understandably wilted under the pressure of being dubbed the ‘next Messi’, but Yamal seems to be an exception to the rule.
Since making his breakthrough in 2023, the teenage superstar has gone from strength to strength for club and country.
He established himation as a regular starter in the 2023–24 campaign and nowadays is one of the first names on the team sheet for Hansi Flick’s side.
In his first 100 appearances for the club, the 17-year-old has scored 21 goals and has provided 33 assists.
While the youngster undoubtedly ranks among the best players in the world, he recently played down the comparisons to Messi.
“I don’t compare myself to him, because I don’t compare myself to anyone, and much less with Messi,” Yamal told reporters.
“We are thinking about improving ourselves, every day, and on being better on the next day.
“So I don’t think the comparison makes sense, with Messi even less, I’m going to enjoy myself, and be myself.
“I admire him obviously, as the best player in history, but I don’t compare myself to him.”
When comparing his first 100 matches with Messi, it’s important to stress that Messi was significantly older when he reached 100 Barcelona appearances.
The Argentine forward made his 100th appearance for the club against Valencia back in February 2008, aged 20.
During those first 100 matches, Messi scored 41 goals and provided 15 assists, averaging a goal contribution every 120.5 minutes.
He went on to make 778 appearances for Barcelona and produced a whopping 941 goal contributions during that time.
Messi himself has spoken highly of Yamal in the past and has dubbed the Barcelona youngsters as one of the brightest players of his generation.
“There’s a very good generation of young footballers who have many years ahead of them,” Messi said at an Adidas event last year.
“If I have to choose someone, because of the age and because of the future that he has, I’ve heard that they have chosen Lamine Yamal and without doubt [it’s him] for me, too.
“I agree it depends on him and many things because that’s how soccer is, but he’s the present and without a doubt has a huge future.”
Yamal still has a long way to go until he matches the sort of numbers that Messi was putting up during his peak, but their stats after 100 games are remarkably similar.
Here’s the full breakdown of Yamal’s Barcelona stats compare to Messi’s after 100 appearances.
Lamine Yamal’s Barcelona stats after 100 appearances
Games: 100
Goals: 22
Assists: 33 ⭐
Goal contributions: 55
Penalties: 0
Minutes per goal: 317.5
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 317.5
Minutes per goal or assist: 127
Lionel Messi’s Barcelona stats after 100 appearances
Games: 100
Goals: 41 ⭐
Assists: 15
Goal contributions: 56 ⭐
Penalties: 4 ⭐
Minutes per goal: 164.7 ⭐
Minutes per non-penalty goal: 182.5 ⭐
Minutes per goal or assist: 120.6 ⭐
READ NEXT: Top 10 Champions League scorers from semi-final onwards since 2000: Messi, Ronaldo…
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Barcelona’s XI from Lionel Messi’s final game?