Xavi believes Lamine Yamal will achieve great things after the teenager made Barcelona history by making his La Liga debut against Real Betis on Saturday.
Yamal was introduced as a late replacement at the Camp Nou as Barça triumphed 4–0 over Real Betis, restoring their 11-point lead at the top.
A product of the La Masia academy, at 15 years and 290 days old, became the youngest blue garnet player in La Liga history.
Yamal narrowly missed Ousmane Dembele’s late goal but the winger stumbled in front of the net and Xavi believes the midfielder has the talent to make his mark.
The Barça coach said: “I told him to try. At 15, he is a talent and a special player.
“He could score, he helped and when you see him in training you can see he can be very good.”
1 – Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to make his debut for Barcelona in La Liga history and fifth overall:
Luca Romero (15 years, 219 days).
Samson (15l, 255d)
Pedro Irastorza (15 years, 288 days)
Oscar Ramon (15 years, 289 days)
LAMINE YAMAL (15l, 290d)Youth. pic.twitter.com/zWaN25yeOU
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 29, 2023
Rafinha scored one goal and assisted another in the Betis thrashing, Andreas Christensen and Robert Lewandowski also scored and Guido Rodriguez scored an own goal.
The Brazilian winger echoed Xavi’s opinion of Yamal, saying: “When I was 15 years old, I played for the team of my area.
“It’s incredible. It would be incredible to score a goal.”
Rafinha suggested that Barça should repeat performances such as the game against Real Betis, in stark contrast to their performance on Wednesday, when they unexpectedly lost 2-1 to Rayo Vallecano.
He added: “The Rayo game was very difficult. We needed to respond with a victory.
“Xavi warned us, we knew we needed to be better on the job and better on the ball. If we want to win the championship, we have to play like this.”