Barcelona’s Emerging Talent Dismisses Rivalry with Former PSG Star | OneFootball

Former Paris Saint-Germain standout Kylian Mbappé will soon experience his first El Clasico against FC Barcelona. Leading up to the match on October 27, one of the main talking points will be a manufactured rivalry between Lamine Yamal and the Frenchman.

La Liga are likely desperate to recreate that magic they had with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo with this new generation of players. Mbappé was the marque signing for Los Blancos while Yamal is the young golden boy for the Catalan side.

While a rivalry between the two makes for good debates on various football programs and websites, Yamal doesn’t view the matter like that with the 25-year-old.

“I don’t think we’re in the Mbappé-Lamine era just yet,” Yamal told France Football (h/t Le10Sport). “It’s still the Barça-Madrid era, just like it’s always been. We’ll do everything we can to win the Clasicos and bring home the titles.”

It will be interesting to see how this situation develops, but it’s hard to envision this being a rivalry, considering PSG’s all-time leading goal scorer is a decade older than Yamal. By the time the teenager enters his early 20s, Mbappé will be toward the end of his prime years.

At the very least, Messi and Ronaldo were two years apart in age, so their best years were going head-to-head. With Yamal and Mbappé that won’t happen.