Barcelona wunderkind Lamine Yamal has big choices ahead for club and country

In the pre-match warm-ups, Lamine Yamal kept his cool under a warm afternoon sun. His close control was neat, a high ball tamed elegantly with the outside of his left boot. It tends to be the left boot if there is a choice for Lamine. In front of more than 80,000 curious spectators, the kid was not going to take too many unnecessary risks.

He is only a kid, as the manager of Barcelona, Xavi, was eager to emphasise ahead of Sunday’s Camp Nou meeting against Atletico Madrid. Quite a collision for a 15-year-old to be introduced. Lamine’s tender age set a record – the youngest player ever called into a Barca first-team squad for a senior fixture.

When Lamine took up his seat on the bench, his fellow substitutes included Jordi Alba - 91 caps for Spain, European Championship and Champions League winner, and, at 34, almost two decades his elder. Alongside him was also Ansu Fati, who three-and-a-half years ago was making his Barcelona debut at 16, a fellow prodigy whose career timeline Lamine is already mimicking.

La Masia, the celebrated Barcelona academy through which Lionel Messi, Xavi himself and, before them, Pep Guardiola learnt to be footballers, prizes its reputation for nurturing exceptional talent. Every so often, a fast-tracked promotion endorses that fame and, as with Ansu, a starlet is rashly labelled ‘The New Messi’.

Lamine is the latest, and although he was not called off the bench as Barcelona defended their narrow 1-0 victory over Atletico, every indication is that he will make a landmark debut in what remains of the season. Barca, who hold an 11-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid with eight fixtures to go, should clinch the title with time left to experiment and to stimulate the dreams of younger