Yamal is only 17 years old?

Yamal - Ảnh 1. — Yamal plays more and more maturely - Photo: REUTERS

"Players like Yamal only appear once every 50 years. Personally, I have never faced a player like him," Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi exclaimed after the 3-3 draw between Barca and Inter in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on the morning of May 1.

Mr. Inzaghi is also a former football star. His younger brother played for Lazio for more than a decade, and faced many world-class superstars in Serie A.

Mr. Inzaghi's compliment to Yamal has great meaning, especially when the 49-year-old former player has now become a world-class coach.

Against Inter Milan, Yamal played an extraordinary match. Not only did he score a superb goal (dribbling past 3 players and finishing delicately), but he also created a series of other opportunities with his unusually flexible feet.

The match yesterday morning marked a special milestone for Yamal, exactly 2 years since his debut for Barca's first team (April 29, 2023). That year Yamal was only 15 years old.

After all the extraordinary things the Spanish superstar has done, he is still only 17 years old?

Many fans commented like that about Yamal. Some even jokingly asked if Yamal lied about his age, which is not too strange in the football world.

Of course that's just a joke. In reality, football is getting younger and younger. The average age of players has also decreased significantly.

Data from the International Football Observatory (CIES) shows that during the period, the average age of players making their first-team debut (in European football) was 20.8 years old, in the period from 2000 to 2012.

But from 2020 onwards, the corresponding figure is only 18.6 years old. That means most football stars today make their first team debut at around 17-19 years old. The case of Yamal - making his Barca debut at 15 years old is rare but not too strange.

The proportion of U18 players playing in European national championships also increased from 6% to 18% between the two periods. And the average age of players decreased from 26.9 to 25.5.

Yamal is of course special, and unique in European football at the moment. But overall, his talent is the result of the clear direction of the La Masia training academy. CIES has a series of surveys showing that La Masia is always firmly in the top 3 football training academies in the world.

La Masia, with its scientific , technological and technical training, has helped 17-year-old Lamine Yamal play football as sharply as Messi or Ronaldo in their 20s.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/yamal-17-tuoi-thoi-u-20250501080151976.htm