La Liga preview: Lamine Yamal set for Barcelona lift-off, Jude Bellingham gives Real boost

Lamine Yamal had barely been on the pitch for three minutes. He turned 16 less than a month ago.

He is not yet mature enough to hide his obvious preference for his left foot over his right, but then that left foot has magic in it and there are many, many years of learning ahead for Yamal, a prodigy who approaches the beginning of the new Spanish Liga season as eagerly as anybody.

Yamal, of Barcelona, made quite a statement on Tuesday evening up on Montjuic, where the city’s Olympic Stadium was making its debut as Barca’s temporary new home – Camp Nou is being redeveloped – for the Joan Gamper Trophy match, a traditional pre-season curtain-raiser. The occasion was in danger of turning a little flat after the night’s guests, Tottenham Hotspur, took a 2-1 lead into half-time.

Spurs held that scoreline until the 80th minute. Cue Yamal, one of the tyros brought off the Barca bench, a kid born just up the Catalan coast, the son of a Moroccan father and a Equatoguinean mother.

His impact would be immediate. Darting in from the right flank, he took three – left-footed – touches to set up his cross for Ferran Torres’ equaliser. A neat Yamal pirouette on the touchline would be the take-off point for Barcelona’s third goal, scored by Ansu Fati, 20.

Yamal then played a part in 21-year-old Abde Ezzalzouli’s late strike, for a 4-2 victory.

It made for an uplifting last summer outing for Barca, who begin their Liga title defence against Getafe this weekend, and a reassuring reminder that, while Barcelona are constrained by huge debts accumulated over the past decade, and effectively homeless for at least a season, there is one parcel of their property that keeps giving.

Yamal is the latest would-be sensation from the club’s La Masia