At a glance
- Atletico Madrid’s Nico Gonzalez was the poor victim on the receiving end of FC Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal’s stunning nutmeg.
- The number 10 followed it up with a delicious outside-of-the-boot pass that Fermin Lopez almost put past Jean Musso.
- Lamine also hit the bar in the first half of the 2-1 win.
FC Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal sent Atletico Madrid’s Nico Gonzalez down the garden path with a ridiculous nutmeg at the Metropolitano on Saturday night.
The incident occurred early in the first half of the La Liga tie, which will be the first of three meetings between the two clubs considering a pair of Champions League quarterfinals that will also be played over the next 11 days.
Lamine was sharp from the offset, and made Gonzalez pay for trying to tackle him head on close to the right wing touchline.
With quick and genius feet, the Ballon d’Or runner up knocked it through the Argentine’s legs with the side of his foot at a curved angle.
Not done there, Lamine then fired off a delightful, swerving, outside-of-the-boot trivela perfectly for Fermin Lopez.
The Andalusian beat Jean Musso but his shot was too wide. However, the moment was thankfully shared by La Liga’s official X account for the world to enjoy.
Lamine Yamal had more in store
The teenage sensation came close to scoring for Barca when hitting the bar with Musso once again helpless.
Guiliano Simeone put Atletico ahead before Rashford then equalised following a brilliant 1-2 with Dani Olmo, but it was Lamine that was the star of the show as shown by the club’s social media accounts as the match progressed still tied at 1-1.
In the second half, he once again came close by making his own luck to get clear through on goal, and Lamine showed that – like Rashford – he’s ready to step up in Raphinha’s injured absence while the Brazilian is out for another month.
At the time of publishing, Lamine had put up strong numbers with a team-highest 8.2 rating from Whoscored?.
Though his passing of 76% was lower than usual, he fired off six shots and completed seven dribbles as a constant threat to Diego Simeone’s men which bodes well for the Champions League instalments of this FC Barcelona-Atletico Madrid trilogy in April.
Late in the match, Robert Lewandowski scored from close range to put the Blaugrana 2-1 ahead and seven points in front of Real Madrid at the top of the table.
