Barcelona coach Hansi Flick says Lamine Yamal deserves to win the Ballon d’Or after another glittering display in Wednesday’s 5-1 Champions League win against Feyenoord.
Yamal scored his fifth goal of the season via a free kick and created two more as Barça kicked off their European campaign in style at a rainy Spotify Camp Nou.
His performance came after being named on the 30-player shortlist to win the Ballon d’Or on Monday, with the winner to be announced at a ceremony in London on Oct. 26.
“Of course, he’s my player, a player from Barcelona,” Flick said in a news conference when asked if Yamal should win the coveted individual prize. “He deserves to win the Ballon d’Or. For me, it’s great.
“You can see in every game he’s special. No one has this like him. I think he deserves it.”
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Yamal’s strike against Feyenoord was his 12th Champions League goal, one shy of Kylian Mbappé’s record (13) for the most by a teenager in the competition’s history.
Including that goal and his two assists, he has now reached 101 career goal contributions for Barcelona (54 goals, 47 assists) at the age of 19 years, 58 days.
His fine start to the season comes on the back of a year which saw him win LaLiga with Barça and the World Cup with Spain, propelling him into contention for the Ballon d’Or.
However, he faces some tough competition for the award from a relatively open field, with Real Madrid’s Mbappé, Bayern Munich‘s Harry Kane and several Paris Saint-Germain players, including last year’s winner Ousmane Dembélé, also in the running.
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Yamal’s Barça teammates Raphinha and Pedri were not named on Monday’s shortlist, though, to the surprise of Flick.
“They are too good to not be there,” the German coach added. “But we cannot change it. But they are fantastic players and deserve to be there.”
New Barça captain Raphinha in particular has started the current season in good form.
The Brazilian led the way against Feyenoord on Wednesday, scoring Barça’s first and third goals, with summer signings Karim Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus also on target.
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Playing as a makeshift striker, Raphinha now has eight goals for the campaign and becomes the first Barça player since 1950 to net in each of the team’s opening five fixtures.
“Raphinha, we saw today, his intensity is great,” Flick said. “When he attacks deep, with the pass from Pedri for his second goal, this is unbelievable.”
Barça have now scored five goals on four occasions in their opening five games, with their tally for the season already at 22.
It has created optimism that they can finally win a first Champions League trophy since 2015, although Flick points out it is still very early in the campaign.
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“I like a lot what I see, but also I see situations where we have to improve,” he said. “I am really happy about what my players are doing on the pitch, but you always can improve. There is a long way to the end.
“Of course It looks really great. I think we are training really hard, really tough. Everyone has this hunger to improve, to get better.
“This affects the team, how we are doing on the pitch, in the games. This is a great situation. We need this intensity for our philosophy. It’s important for how we press as a team.”
