Lamine Yamal hits landmark Barca G/A milestone – but was it faster than Messi?

Lamine Yamal has now reached 80 goal contributions for Barcelona , but did he reach that figure in fewer matches than Lionel Messi? We’ve crunched the numbers.

The Barcelona star scored his 35th goal for the club last night, during Barcelona’s 2-0 triumph over Racing in the Copa Del Rey.

With Real Madrid already out of the competition, Hansi Flick’s side are now the overwhelming favourites to win it once again.

Yamal himself looked threatening from the right-hand side throughout the evening and took his goal well in the 95th minute to seal Barcelona’s 2-0 triumph.

Having also produced 45 assists for the club, it now means the teenager has reached the 80 G/A landmark in just 130 senior appearances.

He’s averaging a goal contribution every 118.6 minutes and is statistically the best dribbler in Europe right now.

Coincidentally, Messi also produced his 80th goal contribution for Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey, during a clash against Benidorm FC back in November 2008.

That was Messi’s 124th game for the club, meaning that he reached the 80 G/A landmark in six games fewer than Yamal.

At this point in his career, Messi was averaging a goal contribution every 105 minutes, which is also slightly superior to Yamal’s current numbers.

Interestingly, while Yamal’s first 80 goal contributions are more weighted towards assists, Messi is the opposite.

At this point in his career, he’d scored 53 goals (18 more than Yamal) but had only produced 27 assists (18 fewer than Yamal).

Given Messi has produced more assists than any other player in football history, Yamal is theoretically on track to break his record, provided that he keeps up this pace for the next decade and a half (easier said than done).

While the Argentine playmaker does come out on top with this comparison, it’s worth stressing that Messi was substantially older than Yamal when he reached 80 goal contributions.

In November 2008, Messi was already 21 years old, which is three years older than Yamal currently is.

While the Spaniard has been thrust straight into the Barcelona XI from his breakthrough, Messi’s introduction into the first team was much more gradual.

Even Messi has said that he sees shades of himself when watching the Barcelona wonderkid.

“There’s a very good generation of young footballers who have many years ahead of them,” Messi said when asked to name a player from the new generation that reminded him of himself when he was young.

“If I have to choose someone, because of the age and because of the future that he has, I’ve heard that they have chosen Lamine Yamal and without doubt [it’s him] for me, too.

“I agree it depends on him and many things because that’s how soccer is, but he’s the present and without a doubt has a huge future.”

Here’s the full breakdown of how long it took both players to reach 80 goal contributions for Barcelona .

Age: 18

Penalties: 7