BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lamine Yamal is back for Barcelona.
Yamal led Barcelona’s comeback against Copenhagen with an assist and a goal, helping the Catalan club climb into the top eight in Wednesday’s Champions League clash.
With a 4-1 home victory, Barcelona finished in fifth place and earned automatic qualification to the Round of 16.
Yamal, who was named man of the match, said: “It’s the night I dreamed of playing and winning as a child.” “It was a great night and we accomplished our goal.”
Copenhagen surprised Barcelona from the start with 17-year-old Viktor Dadason scoring for the visitors in the fourth minute, but Yamal started Barcelona’s fightback with an assist for Robert Lewandowski’s goal in the 48th minute, before scoring the go-ahead goal himself in the 60th minute.
“He has to adapt because there are almost always two or three players against him,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said of Yamal. “His speed for the first goal today and his attack into deep spaces was great. He also ran back and tracked and worked in defence. At that time, Copenhagen couldn’t go straight to our goal because he was there. He’s growing but he has really great quality. He’s great.”
Rafinha and Marcus Rashford then sealed the victory for Barcelona. This is the 14th time in the last 15 games.
Yamal, 18, has been one of Barcelona’s top players in recent years and he proved his worth once again on Wednesday.
He dribbled into the area and set up Lewandowski for the equalizing goal, then added a second goal with a curling shot from the right side of the box. The ball deflected off a defender and hit the top corner of the far post.
Dadson’s goal was his third in the Champions League before he turned 18, while Yamal’s five goals were the most in the competition.
Copenhagen finished in 31st place in the 36-team league.
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