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Barcelona is just not all about Yamal, says Inter's Bastoni

May 06, 2025

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The Mercury

INTER Milan's Alessandro Bastoni has called on his team to pull out all the stops in their bid to contain Barcelona's Lamine Yamal in the Uefa Champions League semi-final second leg at San Siro on Tuesday.

The prodigious 17-year-old Yamal wowed the crowd at Montjuic with a sublime goal and a bold performance, helping Barcelona twice fight back to secure a gripping 3-3 draw in the first leg.

Bastoni, the 25-year-old centre back, who faced Yamal during last year's European Championship where Spain beat Italy 1-0, expressed admiration for the teenager's rapid progression.

“I had already faced him with Spain and he was not yet at this level,” Bastoni said on Monday.

“I was impressed by the level he reached, for his age and ability to create incredible things on the pitch, I think he is among the best in the world right now. We'll have to double, maybe triple (mark) him like we did at times in the first leg, but without exaggerating, otherwise we would create too many spaces. Barcelona is not just Yamal.”

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