According to coach Hansi Flick, one of the important factors that helped Barcelona have a spectacular comeback victory against Celta Vigo with a score of 4-3 on April 19 in round 32 of La Liga was thanks to the special performance of Lamine Yamal.

Coach Hansi Flick said: “I asked Lamine Yamal, can you play today? And he said, yes: 30 minutes. And I like that very much, because it is very important.”

The presence of Lamine Yamal in the last 30 minutes of the match helped Barcelona turn the tables spectacularly against Celta Vigo, winning a very important match from a 1-3 deficit to a 4-3 victory, maintaining the top position in La Liga and leaving rivals Real Madrid 7 points behind (73 compared to 66 points).

This round, Real Madrid will meet Athletic Bilbao at 2:00 a.m. on April 21, while Atletico Madrid shockingly lost to Las Palmas with a score of 0-1, and is about to leave the championship race.

Lamine Yamal was benched by coach Hansi Flick due to Barcelona’s heavy schedule of matches, including La Liga and Champions League matches, as well as the upcoming Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid (at 3am on April 27). The Catalan team is also preparing for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Inter Milan at 2am on May 1.

Due to the change in the lineup, Barcelona were shocked by Celta Vigo to take a 3-1 lead after just over 62 minutes of play. All three goals for the away team were scored by Borja Iglesias. Meanwhile, Ferran Torres scored the opening goal for Barcelona in the 12th minute.

From this point on, when coach Hansi Flick sent Lamine Yamal onto the field, the game changed. The presence of the 17-year-old star, who had just received public praise for the first time from his senior Messi, helped Barcelona make a spectacular comeback. After Dani Olmo scored to reduce the score to 2-3 for Barcelona in the 64th minute, with only 4 minutes on the field, Lamine Yamal had a spectacular assist for his senior Raphinha to score in the 68th minute, equalizing the score to 3-3.

This equalizer was the premise for Barcelona to put intense pressure in the remaining time of the match with Lamine Yamal playing extremely well, bringing a penalty in the 90+8 minute for Raphinha to score again to help the Catalan team complete the comeback to win 4-3.

At the age of 17, Lamine Yamal has contributed 22 assists to Barcelona in the 2024-2025 season. Besides, he also scored 14 goals, in a total of 46 matches since the beginning of the season.

Messi recently spoke about Lamine Yamal: “What he shows, what he is doing and has done, is incredibly impressive. Yamal won the EURO with the Spanish national team. He is only 17 years old, he is in the process of developing and will continue to develop as a player, and will add more to his game, just like I did. He has incredible qualities and is already one of the best players in the world.”

Messi’s recognition is the sublimation of Lamine Yamal, also helping Barcelona aim for a record “quadruple” in the current season, including winning La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey, after they were crowned Spanish Super Cup champions in January.