Gavi Comments On Lamine Yamal After His Performance Against Real Betis In Copa del Rey

Barcelona midfielder, Gavi, says Lamine Yamal is the best player in the world after Lionel Messi following the teenager’s devastating showing in Wednesday’s 5-1 Copa del Rey win over Real Betis.

Yamal scored one goal, assisted with two others, and had another goal disallowed for offside while Barça comfortably advanced to the quarterfinal draw on Monday.

The 17-year-old has now scored nine times this season and laid on 13 assists for his teammates in 24 appearances.

“Yes, he is,” Gavi told reporters when asked if Yamal is already the best player in the game. “Well, after Lionel Messi, he’s the best.”

Yamal, who guided Spain to victory in the European Championship last summer, finished eighth in the Ballon d’Or rankings last year. He also won the Kopa Trophy and the Golden Boy Award, which are awarded to the best young player in the world.

He has long since established himself as a regular in Barça’s first team, clocking up over 70 appearances already, and was a nuisance for Betis all night on Wednesday.

After Gavi had opened the scoring, Yamal’s brilliant lobbed pass set up Jules Koundé for Barça’s second. The winger then set up Kounde again, only for the goal to be ruled off for offside after a lengthy VAR check.

Yamal thought he had added Barça’s third after the break, only for a VAR review to once again cancel out the effort for offside, before a brilliant solo run from the edge of his box led to Raphinha scoring.

Substitute Ferran Torres scored Barça’s fourth goal before Yamal finally found the back of the net, finishing neatly after receiving a pass from Fermín López. Vitor Roque, currently on loan at Betis from Barça, scored a late consolation goal from the penalty spot.

“You know, Gavi’s very emotional, so I say yes as well,” Barça coach Hansi Flick said in a news conference when asked if he agreed with Gavi’s take on Yamal.

“You can see it. I think in great matches, you see the big talent, and he’s shown it many times. He’s in a really good way. But we have to take care of him.”

After a disappointing end to 2024, Barça has now started 2025 with four straight wins, including Sunday’s 5-2 demolition of Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa final.

Flick wants his players to now take that form into La Liga, where they have fallen six points behind leaders Atlético Madrid and five behind Real.

“For us, today was very important after the big win against Real Madrid,” the German said. “It was very good to see how the team came back because we traveled [back from Saudi Arabia], and we trained only yesterday.

“So it’s good to see this, how we play today, the performance from the beginning. We controlled the game, and it was great to see how they did.

“The big goal [is to play like this in La Liga]. We are looking for a match to match; of course, Saturday is the next one against Getafe. We want to play and be ready for that and win.”