Comparing Lamine Yamal’s international record with Lionel Messi after 17 games
Lamine Yamal has made a brilliant start to his international career, but how does it stack up against Lionel Messi’s beginnings with Argentina?
From the moment the Spaniard burst onto the scene for Barcelona aged just 15, the Messi comparisons were inevitable and near enough instant.
A young right winger full of flair who’d taken La Masia by storm and slotted seamlessly into the senior side at La Blaugrana, the parallels were simply too obvious.
The teenager, though, is defying expectation and comparison with every flash of brilliance he shows. He’s quickly carving a legacy and doing everything he can to ensure he’s not the next Messi, but the first Yamal – and we love it.
Despite not being old enough to buy himself a copy of the new Call of Duty or even a celebratory pint if he wanted, Yamal has already made 62 appearances for Barcelona, scoring 12 goals so far, and has burst onto the scene in similar fashion at international level.
He broke club teammate Gavi’s international record when he became Spain’s youngest male debutant at just 16 years, 57 days against Georgia in a EURO 2024 qualifier in September 2023, and became La Roja’s youngest scorer in the same game.
Since then, he’s become the crown jewel in an all-conquering Spanish side managed by Luis de la Fuente, proving instrumental as they marked an international comeback by winning EURO 2024 in brilliant style.
Messi officially became the greatest of all time in the eyes of many when he fired Argentina to the World Cup in 2022 and ironed out the only blemish on an otherwise flawless CV, but for how iconic his career has been, things started slowly at international level.
A red card after coming off the bench for his debut against Hungary was a less than ideal start for Messi in August 2005, but he registered an assist on his third cap for La Albiceleste in a World Cup qualifying victory over Paraguay that October.
It wasn’t quite so straightforward, though, with Messi not scoring his first goal for Argentina until March 2006 on his sixth cap – a 3-2 friendly defeat against Croatia.
Yamal has now been capped 17 times for Spain which includes appearances in friendlies, qualifiers, the Nations League and his first major tournament – which culminated in him winning the whole thing.
In his first 17 games for Argentina, Messi also featured at his first major tournament, playing four times at the 2006 World Cup. He scored and assisted against Serbia and Montenegro, but was an unused substitute as Jose Pekerman’s side were knocked out on penalties by hosts Germany in the quarter-final.
To be slightly irresponsible and add fuel to the fire, we’ve gathered the specific stats from Messi’s first 17 games for Argentina and compared them to Yamal’s first 17 games in a Spain shirt.
Drawing conclusions from this alone will tell us nothing long-term, but it makes for fascinating reading seeing their stats side by side and – crucially – seeing how much stronger a start Yamal has made on the international stage. No lights are too bright for the teenager right now.
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Lamine Yamal’s first 17 games for Spain
Games: 17
Goals: 3
Assists: 9
Goal contributions: 12
Yellow cards: 2
Red cards: 0
Trophies won: European Championship
Lionel Messi’s first 17 games for Argentina
Games: 17
Goals: 4
Assists: 6
Goal contributions: 10
Yellow cards: 0
Red cards: 1
Trophies won: None