Lamine Yamal has continued to back his Ballon d’Or claims with brilliant performances in almost every single game so far this season, and the latest came against Galatasaray in the Champions League.
The Barcelona star was brilliant at RAMS Park as Hansi Flick’s team defeated the Turkish champions in an entertaining encounter.
Brilliant work from Rafael Leão down the left flank opened up Barcelona’s defence, and the Portuguese found Aleksey Batrakov, whose shot deflected off João Cancelo to send RAMS Park into raptures just before the 30th-minute mark.
Galatasaray doubled their lead just six minutes later, with right-back Alper Yilmaz touching the ball home, but the referee ruled out the goal for offside.
Yamal Takes Control
From there on, Lamine Yamal took control of the match and helped Barcelona get back into the game.
João Cancelo levelled the score before half-time, and Lamine Yamal’s floated cross into the box found Fermín López, who headed home to make the score 1-2 in favour of the Culers.
In his most impressive action of the night, Lamine Yamal created Barcelona’s third goal by faking a trivela and reacting faster to find Antony Gordon, even after Galatasaray’s defender had touched the ball “mid-dribble”.
Karim Adeyemi lashed home the fourth goal to put the result beyond doubt for the travelling fans.
Yamal Responds to Lemina
Before the match, a video of Mario Lemina saying, “I don’t know who Yamal is”, was making the rounds.
After Yamal recorded two assists and created six chances against Galatasaray, the Spanish winger took to social media to ask the world and Lemina, “He know me now?”
Ballon d’Or Claims Grow Stronger
Yamal continues to shine, and his claim to the Ballon d’Or becomes even stronger with each passing game. He remains the favourite to win the award in two weeks’ time.
