During his second stint as Real Madrid manager, Fabio Capello had to endure the early steps of Leo Messi in top-tier football when he first broke into FC Barcelona’s first team. In fact, a few years earlier, he tried to sign him for Juventus. Now, nearly 20 years after that episode, he hasn’t hesitated to praise Lamine Yamal and send a clear warning to Inter Milan.

“Don’t think he’ll get cold feet”

It’s only been a week, and maybe people still haven’t fully realized the performance Lamine Yamal delivered in the first leg against Inter Milan. But with time, it will be remembered as one of the greatest displays in Champions history. Especially considering he rescued a struggling Barcelona and ended up surpassing Kylian Mbappé as the youngest scorer in a Champions semifinal — on the very day he reached 100 appearances with Barcelona… at just 17 years old.

“How can you not talk about Lamine Yamal? It will be his first time at San Siro, but don’t think he’ll get cold feet. The kid doesn’t seem prone to fear. In fact, between the Euros, the Champions, and big matches against Real Madrid, he’s already shown that he has the mentality of a champion: the bigger the stage, the better he performs. That’s why I hope that, if the match is on the line, Inter doesn’t sit back like they did in the last 20 minutes against Bayern — doing that against Lamine would be suicide,” warned Fabio Capello, praising Lamine Yamal’s qualities.

Inzaghi Doesn’t Know How to Stop Lamine Yamal

In the first leg, Lamine Yamal made it clear that when he sets his mind to it, he’s absolutely unstoppable — even against a defense like Inter Milan’s, which had looked nearly impenetrable until this tie. However, it’s clear that adjustments will need to be made to try and contain a Lamine Yamal determined to continue making history in the Champions League.

The first person fully aware of this is Simone Inzaghi, who already praised Lamine Yamal after the match played at Montjuic… and did so again yesterday in a press conference. “We have to try to keep the ball away from him. But it’s impossible. Obviously, he’ll be double-marked and we’ll try to keep a close eye on him. He’s an incredible talent. What impressed me the most was his speed of thought.”