Lamine Yamal has paid an enormous compliment to Liverpool, albeit one which could sound bittersweet to Reds supporters.
While the 17-year-old still has the opportunity to become a European champion at club level in addition to helping Spain win Euro 2024, with Barcelona into the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Arne Slot’s side must wait until next season to try and win the trophy for the seventh time.
Despite finishing top of the revamped singular league phase, LFC were downed by Paris Saint-Germain on penalties in the round of 16, with the Ligue 1 giants having ended Barca’s hopes in this tournament last year by overturning a first-leg deficit in the away fixture (sound familiar?…)
Yamal claims Barcelona are now Champions League favourites
Far from being haunted by that quarter-final exit 11 months ago, Yamal has confidently backed his side to claim Champions League glory this year, in the process paying a significant compliment to Liverpool.
In an interview with Spanish publication Sport, the Barcelona winger said: “We are favourites to win the Champions League now that Liverpool are out of the competition.
“We are not afraid of any team. We are a family, and we’re not the same as one year ago against PSG. When the group stage ended, I said Liverpool were the favourites because they were first; and now that they’ve fallen, it’s us.”
Yamal clearly has a lot of respect for Liverpool
While LFC fans will likely appreciate the compliment from one of the most gifted young forwards in world football, Yamal’s reminder about our elimination from the Champions League also brings back agonising memories of the Anfield defeat to PSG and shines a spotlight on what could’ve been.
Having seemingly done the hard part by winning the first leg in Paris despite being outclassed, Liverpool had their lead cancelled out at home and then saw Gianluigi Donnarumma decisively thwart Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones in the penalty shootout.
Once the hurt had subsided, solace could be found in the realisation that an excellent PSG team needed penalties to knock out the Reds, who are still in a brilliant position to end the season with silverware by winning the Premier League, in which they have a 12-point lead over Arsenal.
Also, if (admittedly a big if) the Anfield hierarchy can persuade our big names to sign new contracts and/or make a few astute additions in the summer transfer window, there’s no reason why Slot’s team can’t have a serious crack at winning the Champions League in 2025/26.
Yamal’s comments show just how much respect Liverpool command among some of the best players in Europe, and Barcelona may be quite relieved that we’re not around to inflict more European heartbreak on them this year after that night in May 2019!
