Luis Enrique, coach of Paris Saint-Germain, refused to make comparisons between Barcelona striker Lamine Yamal and former Camp Nou legend Lionel Messi.
Yamal continues his amazing development this season, proving himself as one of the best football players in the world, and he is still only nineteen years old.
Yamal's performances for club and country, where he helped Barcelona win the Spanish League title for the second season in a row, and then won the World Cup with Spain, have propelled the young player into one of the leading candidates for this year's Ballon d'Or, which will be awarded in London next week.
The player has already scored nine goals and provided 10 assists in just 11 appearances in all competitions for Barcelona this season, helping his team maintain a perfect record of wins at the start of the season.
Yamal's performance, which was crucial to the victories, was so consistent that he was constantly compared to the game's greatest stars. Perhaps the most apt comparison is that with Messi, who spent more than 20 years in Catalonia and is widely considered one of the best players football has ever known.
Luis Enrique believes, in statements he made during a press conference held before hosting Barcelona on Tuesday in the Champions League, that this is not the appropriate time to make such comparisons.
“I write, I think Lamine wants to be Lamine, and he is doing very well,” Enrique said.
He continued: “He is improving in every aspect of his game, but if you compare him to the best player ever, there will only be one winner.”
Enrique added: “Maybe we can talk about that in the future, but for now it is better not to compare him to Messi.”
Barcelona's very strong start this season saw the team lead the Spanish League table with a comfortable margin of five points, while scoring an amazing tally of 48 goals during the 11 matches it played in various competitions.
Hansi Flick's side have only failed to score three or more goals in a match this season, in a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in August.
Luis Enrique - who coached Barcelona between 2014 and 2017 - considered Yamal an essential element in that strong offensive line, but at the same time he praised the talent that the team abounds as a whole.
“The best way to stop Lamine Yamal is to keep the ball away from Barcelona,” he said.
He added: "If he cannot get the ball, everything will remain calm. This would be ideal, but we know that will not be the case; it is difficult to play against Barcelona and Lamin Yamal."
The Spanish coach, who won Barcelona's last Champions League title in 2015, added: "The best way to defend against a team with this quality is to be careful and deal with the matter as a single unit. But the matter is not limited to just Lamine; there is Rafinha and Pedri...they have many high-class players."
On Tuesday, the Parc des Princes stadium will witness a confrontation between two of the teams nominated to win the Champions League. Paris Saint-Germain will play the match as European champions in the past two editions, while Luis Enrique sought to downplay the importance of the match, given that it only comes in the third round of the league stage.
He said: “The structure of the competition allows this match to be held now, but it does not reveal what the future might look like.”
He added: "I know that we are both among the candidates, but there are other teams as well. The whole thing is still in its infancy."
He continued: "The competition will start in April, not now. The teams that will be present in April are the ones that will compete for the title. This will be a very competitive match, but the bet in it does not exceed three points."
Luis Enrique, who asserts that he enjoys an “incredible relationship with Catalonia,” stated that he has finally begun to “get used to” facing Barcelona, after he represented the club with distinction during his career as a player, and later also during his work as a coach.
He said: "It was strange at first, but I'm starting to get used to it now. They play football similar to our style; they have high potential and show values that I like."
He added: "I love watching Barcelona and the way they play. It's great to see the ambition and identity they have, and it's something we aspire to as well."
He concluded by saying: “But of course, as a Parisian, I would like to win tomorrow, and we aspire to become the first team to defeat Barcelona this season.”
