Lamine Yamal responds when asked by reporter if he will call himself best player in the world like ‘jerk’ Cristiano Ronaldo
Barcelona teenage sensation Lamine Yamal has responded to whether he would be called a "jerk" if like, Cristiano Ronaldo, he calls himself the best player in the wordl currently.
Yamal, 17, is coming off a superb season with the Blaugrana. The Euro 2024 winner helped Barca win the domestic treble, with 18 goals and 25 assists in 55 games across competitions.
On current form, Lamine Yamal is definitely one of the in-form players in the game currently. But the teenager steered clear of calling him the best when he was asked by a reporter:
"Are you ashamed to say that maybe, for you, you are the best player of the year? That happened to Cristiano, who said it, and then people said he was a jerk. But maybe you think you deserve the trophy?"
The Barca man told Partizado de Cope (via GOAL):
"I don't think about it. You'll be in trouble if you think about winning the Ballon d'Or. You think about playing, winning, and it will come. If I win the Champions League and the World Cup next year, it will come. It's about enjoying it and letting it come when it has to."
Lamine Yamal's exploits during the recently concluded season places him among the contenders for the prestigious Ballon d'Or this year. However, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, Yamal's Barca teammate Raphinha and former Blaugrana winger Ousmane Dembele are also widely considered among the contenders.
Cristiano Ronaldo called himself the GOAT, ahead of Lamine Yamal's club legend Lionel Messi and others
Cristiano Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the best players to grace the beautiful game. In his storied career spanning more than two decades, the 40-year-old has scored goals and won big titles galore for club and country.
Coming off a 35-goal season with Al-Nassr in the recently concluded season, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner is up to 935 goals for club and country, the most by any player in football history.
In February, Ronaldo told Sexta (via GOAL) why he thinks he's the best player of all time:
“I think I'm the most complete player there has ever been. That's my opinion. It could be a question of taste but I think it's me. I do everything in football. I head well, I take set pieces well, I shoot well with my left foot, I'm fast, I'm strong, I jump.
“Taste is one thing, saying this, that or that, whether you prefer Messi, Pele or Maradona, I hear it and I respect it but to say that Cristiano isn't complete is a lie. I'm the most complete. I don't see anyone better than me, and I tell you that with all my heart.”
Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo and Lamine Yamal's Barca icon Messi enjoyed nine hugely successful seasons for their respective clubs while both played in Spain between 2009 and 2018.