This weekend, Barcelona host Valencia in their final La Liga game, and Lamine Yamal will surely be one of their references as they look to break their “terrible form” in the league. The man who will have the task of stopping him at the Estadi Olimpic is someone the 17-year-old sensation knows well: José Gayá.
Lamine Yamal and Gaya have been international teammates for the past 16 months, and the latter recounted his first impression of the teenager when speaking to the media on Thursday, according to Relevo.
“I remember seeing him with the national team when he was 16 years old and I was amazed. I said he was going to be a player who was going to mark an era and I think he will be. If not the best in the world, but I am sure he is one of the best.”
Gaya will have his work cut out for him to stop Lamine Yamal, although he is confident in his ability to do so. He also believes he knows exactly how to nullify the threat of Barcelona’s world-class winger.
“Normally we always have the option of being able to see individual videos of the opponents you may face, but I have seen Lamine quite a bit and he is difficult to defend. You don’t know what is better if you overtake him very quickly, if you leave him space, if you go very quickly to defend, he has a lot of capacity to come out from both sides, but if you go back and give him space, with driving he can lead you to complicated situations.
“The key is to make him back towards his own goal. These types of players like to run forward, but when they have to run backwards, not so much.”
It won’t be easy for Valencia to get a result this weekend, especially as they are missing key defender Cristhian Mosquera. However, if Gaya can keep Lamine Yamal quiet, that could go a long way in stopping Barcelona.