Starlet Yamal offers Barca hope ahead of daunting Liga challenge

Teenage star Lamine Yamal is carrying the weight of expectations as Hansi Flick’s Barcelona face the unenviable challenge of dethroning a fearsome Real Madrid side as Spanish champions this season.

The German coach replaced club legend Xavi Hernandez at the helm and welcomed new arrival Dani Olmo last week, but last season’s La Liga winners Madrid signed superstar French striker Kylian Mbappe earlier this summer.

The forward joins Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and other star names to ensure Barcelona begin the season as firm underdogs to Los Blancos.

The Catalan giants won nothing last season and surrendered their Spanish crown in a deeply disappointing campaign, but 17-year-old Yamal’s emergence shows there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Along with Olympic gold medal-winning center-back Pau Cubarsi, financially-hampered Barcelona will rely on their young stars to try and compete with the might of Carlo Ancelotti’s Champions League winners.

Many believe Barcelona need a left winger and a deep-lying midfielder to put themselves in a position to fight for silverware but the club’s economic struggles make those dreams unlikely after Olmo’s arrival.

Flick’s side beat Madrid in pre-season during a tour of the United States but were brought crashing down to earth on Monday by Monaco, who enjoyed a 3-0 win in the traditional Joan Gamper Trophy curtain-raiser at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium in their final friendly.

“We didn’t play with our normal speed or normal combinations, we lost a lot of balls,” said Flick after the chastening defeat.

“But in the end, it is pre-season. I know the team can play much better than today.

“We have five days more now and will prepare them well for the next match against Valencia (Barca’s La Liga