‘I don’t want to be Messi’ – Firstpost

Barcelona football sensation Lamine Yamal has refuted the comparisons with Lionel Messi, saying that he wants to chart his own path and that the Argentine legend is well aware of his feelings. Only 18, Yamal has emerged as the best from the next generation, already winning two La Liga titles with Barcelona and Euro 2024 with Spain.

Yamal, who was the runner-up at the 2025 Ballon d’Or, has regularly been compared to former Barcelona great Messi. Just like Yamal, Messi also established himself as one of the best players at Barcelona and went on to win 37 trophies with the club.

‘I don’t want to be Messi’: Yamal

But Yamal said that he doesn’t want to be another Messi; rather, he wants to follow his own path.  He spoke to CBS NEWS on the 60 Minutes show.

“I respect him for what he has been and what he is for football,” Yamal said. “If we meet one day on a football field, there will be that mutual respect. For me he is the best in history.

“We both also know that I don’t want to be Messi and Messi knows that I don’t want to be him, I want to follow my own path. I have no intention of playing like him, or wearing the number 10 that Messi wore, or anything like that.”

Yamal, however, admitted that Messi had had a major impact on how his game has developed.

“When I was little, I never dribbled much, I ran a lot but above all I always had a very good vision of the game. I looked a lot at Messi because he gave different passes, goal passes and that’s what I looked at. Also in passes with the outside, that I’ve seen a lot to Modric. They are things that I liked a lot and that seemed more interesting than a dribble.”

While explaining the type of football he plays, Yamal said: “Fun, that’s the word. In the end I play for people to have fun. I’m an athlete who entertains and whose goal is not to break all the records in the world, to score a million goals, to make a million dribbles. I want to enjoy myself and for kids to want to be like me. Obviously, if I score a lot of goals, that’s even better, but I think football goes beyond that.”