Lionel Messi teammate addresses Lamine Yamal comparisons

Barcelona kick off their Champions League semi-final tie on Wednesday as they host Inter at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. Hansi Flick’s side are favourites to progress to next month’s final against one of Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain, but it will be very tough to get past the Nerrazzuri, despite their poor recent form.

It has been a tough couple of weeks for Inter, who have lost their last three matches across all competitions. But that is now behind them according to star striker Lautaro Martinez, who spoke to the media on Tuesday (via MD).

“We are together. This week has been tough for us. We are the first to suffer when we lose. Tomorrow we will face a great team. At this point, this can happen. So far we have done a good job. The group is fine, united.”

Lautaro, who could have joined Barcelona back in 2020, will be the focal point for Inter in attack, but he knows that his teammates in defence will need to be at their best to stop the likes of Raphinha, Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres.

“We know the offensive power of the team. We have to do a great job defensively. We are a team that has defended very well. We have to defend together to try not to let them have scoring chances.”

Lautaro was asked specifically about Lamine Yamal, whose incredible rise over the last couple of years has already seen him compared to Lionel Messi, who is the international teammate of the Inter player. In his opinion, there is no grounds for the two to be compared.

“Well, first of all, I’m not going to get into that. For me, Leo has no comparison, because he is, was, and will be the best player of all time. So I won’t make that comparison. I can only say that Lamine Yamal is an important player, we’ve all seen it, we all know it. At his young age, he’s doing a tremendous job, he’s already won important titles with his national team, so he deserves respect.”