Barcelona’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal has declared his team the favourites to win the Champions League.
Barcelona coasted past Benfica in the round of 16 with a 4-1 aggregate victory and will face Borussia Dortmund, who are enduring a difficult domestic season, in the quarter-final.
Seventeen-year-old Yamal is having a brilliant season, having scored 13 goals and laid on 14 assists in all competitions for Barcelona, which has led to him once again being called up by the Spain national team for the international break.
Clearly, he is not lacking confidence, judging by his recent comments.
“We’re the favourites for the Champions League,” he told Spanish newspaper SPORT.
“When the group stage ended, I said Liverpool were the favourites because they were first, and now that they’ve fallen, it’s us.
“We’re a different team than last year, when we lost to PSG.”
Since that 6-4 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-final of the 2023-24 Champions League, Yamal has won the European Championship with Spain.
Back in the Spain squad here, he is set to face the Netherlands in the two-legged Nations League quarter-final.
17 – Lamine Yamal is the youngest player in UEFA Champions League history to both score and assist a goal in a match (17 years, 241 days). Masia. pic.twitter.com/ZE4G4KfKCl
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 11, 2025
