Lamine Yamal: Record-breaking debut

What a night for Lamine Yamal. The Barça youngster came on for the last few minutes against Betis and at the age of 15 years, 9 months and 16 days, he has become the youngest player ever to play a league match for the club this century. The previous record was held by Vicente Martínez, who was 16 years and 280 days old in 1941.

Ansu Fati was a whole year older (16 years, 9 months and 25 days) when he played his first senior game, and so Lamine Yamal now becomes the youngest Barça player of the century.

According to club records, three players were even younger than Lamine Yamal when they debuted in the now defunct Catalan Championship. These were Armand Martínez-Sagi (14 years, 6 months and 16 days (1920)), Carles Comamala (14 years, 7 months and 5 dies (1903)) and Paulino Alcántara (15 years, 4 months and 18 days (1912)).

Dream debut

Wearing the number 41 on his back, Yamal came on after 86 minutes as a substitute for Gavi, and although he was only on for 7 minutes, he managed to have quite an impact on the game. He robbed Montoya just moments after coming on and had it not been for a splendid save by Rui Silva, he would have scored a historic goal. And there was also a sublimely brilliant chip over the defence that Dembélé was unable to convert. There is no question about it. This boy has a future!

Nine years at the club

Lamine Yamal was born in Mataró, about 40km to the north of Barcelona, on 13 July 2007. He joined FC Barcelona in 2014 when he was just 7 years old. He has risen all the way up through the ranks, and this season was playing in the UEFA Youth League, beating Ilaix Moriba to become the youngest Barça player ever to do so.

He has played 20 league games for the U19A team this season, 15 as a starter, and has scored seven goals. He played six games in the UEFA Youth League and also played two games and scored one goal in the U19 Copa del Rey.