On Saturday, Lamine Yamal scored the first hat trick of his career as Barcelona ripped apart Villarreal 4-1, but... it's not the hat trick that stands out, as astonishing as that sounds.
Of course, the feat came with a bevy of records: the youngest to score three in a league match for Barca (beating Giovanni dos Santos and a certain Lionel Messi), the third youngest to ever do it in LaLiga (the first two were scored in 1934 and 1930), the first player to reach 25+ career league goals before turning 19 in Europe's top 5 leagues this century... it just gets more impressive the more we read.
But it's not what stands out. Neither are the first and third goals of said hat trick -- sublime finishes off equally sublime through balls from Fermín López and the sensational Pedri. As a singular moment, what highlights just what a special player this young man is is what he does to get himself the second goal.
It starts when Yamal collects the ball just past the halfway line. A couple of ball rolls (for no reason but 'why not') later he's playing a give-and-go with Fermin and racing towards the corner flag. As he checks and squares up Sergi Cardona, casually jogging at him, throwing in a stepover now and then, watching Cardona's face as he backtracks, you can sense the atmosphere within the stadium shift. Those watching from the outside know something's about to happen.
Those on the pitch can feel it too, and as Yamal takes Cardona out of the equation with a shoulder drop and a burst of acceleration from virtually a standing start, winger Alberto Moleiro rushes in to save his left back. His logic appeared quite solid: the spurt from Yamal was so sudden it looked like he'd over-kicked the ball to his left and surely, Moleiro could nip in there and take the ball back.
And he should have... except Yamal decided to remind Moleiro and everyone else that this is Yamal's world and we're all just living in it. Extending his leg with almost comical elasticity, he gives the ball (rolling on the floor, mind) a tap, bouncing it over the leg of Moleiro and into space. In that moment you could see exactly why people talk about this young man in the same hushed tones they used for Messi: it is imagination and execution that only the very best have at their disposal.
Once clear of the two Villarreal players there was only going to be one result. Senegal's AFCON hero Papa Gueye was too far away to do anything but attempt a block from where he stood. It didn't matter what he, or goalkeeper Luiz Júnior or centre-back Renato Veiga behind him did, though. Without taking another touch, Yamal regained balance and absolutely leathered it into side netting at far corner. As the commentator summed it up: "Out of absolutely nothing, genius from Lamine Yamal."
He's had a tough(ish) season, injury limiting his appearances and his impact in the first half, Spain and Barcelona fighting over his fitness, an 18th birthday bash that reportedly went out of control, brash statements made against Real Madrid used against him in the press... but now he seems to have put it all behind him.
"I wasn't feeling well myself, it was a mix of everything... I wasn't happy playing, and I think it showed," he told the broadcasters after the match. "I have that desire to smile on the pitch that I haven't had for a long time and I'm very happy."
On Saturday, it showed too. "Now, I'm happy playing."