Rudiger lauds ´ridiculous´ Yamal after sensational LaLiga start

Real Madrid’s Antonio Rudiger has lauded Barcelona’s ‘ridiculous’ Lamine Yamal following the teenager’s rapid rise to stardom for their fierce LaLiga rivals.

Yamal broke into Barca’s first-team last term, making 50 appearances in all competitions before announcing himself on the international stage for Spain at Euro 2024.

He became the first Spanish player to register four assists in a single European Championship tournament.

It was also the joint most that any player has ever assisted at a single edition of the tournament that Opta has on record (1980 onwards).

Yamal also broke Pele’s record from the 1958 World Cup final for Brazil against Sweden by becoming the youngest player to feature in a major international tournament final at the age of 17 years and 249 days in Spain’s 2-1 win over England.

And the teenager has picked up where he left off in Germany, already notching 10 goal involvements (five goals and five assists) in 10 appearances in all competitions this season.

9 – @FCBarcelona´s @LamineeYamal has now started more games while aged under-18 than any other player in UEFA Champions League history (9), overtaking Jude Bellingham and Warren Zaïre-Emery this evening (8 each). Rocket. pic.twitter.com/EGDWcP93cR

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) October 1, 2024

The 17-year-old has also completed the joint-most dribbles alongside Sevilla’s Chidera Ejuke (23) in LaLiga this season, while only Raphinha (26) has created more chances for Barcelona in the league this season than Yamal (17).

Barcelona travel to the Bernabeu at the end of this month, and Rudiger said that Yamal’s ceiling was something he found “quite scary”.

“You have to give credit where credit is due,” Rudiger told The Inside Scoop podcast when asked about Yamal.

“He is 17, it’s ridiculous. The player he is already for them [Barca] at 17, it’s quite scary. What he did in the Euros, you have to give kudos to him. He has a great future ahead.

“I think they [Barca] have a player who has a [big] career and hopefully, he will stay healthy.”