De la Fuente hails Yamal as 'born for this' and places him alongside Messi

Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente has placed Lamine Yamal in the same elite bracket as Lionel Messi, telling The Guardian that the 18-year-old Barcelona winger was “born for this” and possesses a rare, innate genius that only a handful of players in history have shared.

The praise comes as Spain prepare for the 2026 World Cup, with Yamal — fresh from being named La Liga’s Player of the Season — expected to be the focal point of La Roja’s attack this summer.

De la Fuente was emphatic about what separates Yamal from even the most talented footballers. “Footballers are people of high ability, so intelligent. They are geniuses and then there are those that are touched by God’s wand and there are very few of those. Lamine, Messi…” the coach said.

He was equally struck by how the teenager handles the scrutiny that comes with stardom. “Lamine was 16 at the Euros, 18 now, he puts up with a brutal media pressure and makes very few errors. One minute, one mistake, and the focus is on that; that’s not fair,” De la Fuente said. “He has a daring character. Maybe that pressure would have overwhelmed you or me. But these guys are special.”

While the Messi comparison has followed Yamal since he broke into senior football — a long-forgotten photo recently resurfaced showing a 20-year-old Messi holding Yamal as a baby during a charity calendar shoot — De la Fuente was careful not to burden the teenager with the weight of succeeding the Argentine icon. He did, however, lean into the symbolism of that image. “Maybe Messi has picked up lots of babies. Maybe it’s chance. But for those of us who have faith, who believe in something beyond, ‘chance’ is God’s pseudonym when he doesn’t want to sign his name. In life I think, everything happens for a reason.”

On the fitness front, De la Fuente offered a cautiously optimistic update on Yamal, who has been managing a hamstring injury that raised concerns about his availability for the start of the tournament. Reports from the Spain camp indicate his recovery is progressing well, though the coach stopped short of guaranteeing his availability for Spain’s opening group fixture against Cape Verde on June 15.