🚨🎙️ | Simone Inzaghi on Lamine Yamal critics for the Ballon D’or:
🗣️ “I find the criticism regarding Lamine Yamal’s confidence to be completely misplaced. If any of these critics were 19 years old with his specific level of talent and quality, they would be far more 'cocky' than he is.
I watched this kid against us in the Champions League last 2 seasons when he was 17, and he kept me on my toes completely off my feet. I have never seen a teenager with that much quality, and frankly, anyone criticizing him simply does not understand football. What he’s done for Spain and Barcelona in recent seasons has been simply remarkable. there is no label on the ballon d’Or trophy, it belongs to the Best players, and right now Lamine Yamal is the best player in the world.
Cristiano Ronaldo reached the heights he did partly because of his confidence, and for years people wanted Lionel Messi to show more of that same “arrogant and cocky” mentality. Now we have a young player with elite talent and supreme self-belief, and people want him to tone it down? To me, that’s the perfect combination.
He talks off the pitch and backs it up on it. People always want generational talents to be quiet and reserved, but it doesn’t have to be that way. He knows his worth and believes in himself. Let him be who he is.”