Spanish soccer sensation Lamine Yamal reflects on his roots and his rise to the top

Want to see eyes pop and jaws drop? Ask your soccer-loving friends about Lamine Yamal, an 18-year-old sensation from Spain. Better yet, watch him play, ideally in person, which you can do next summer when the World Cup comes to North America for the first time in 32 years. The tournament draw will be held Friday in Washington, D.C. This World Cup likely will double as a valedictory for global soccer's GOAT, Lionel Messi of Argentina. But it will also be a debut showcase for the extravagant, generational talent of the player who's been cast as Messi's heir. Lamine Yamal is not yet licensed to drive, not yet liberated from wearing braces. Already, though, the world — like the ball he dribbles — is at his feet. Summer of '24. Munich, Germany. Semifinals of the European Soccer Championship… Remember what you were doing at age 16? Spanish soccer whiz kid Lamine Yamal was doing this…A bit of sorcery that helped Spain vault to victory over France and eventually to the European title. And it vaulted Lamine out of adolescence and into global sports stardom. Turned out, he was just limbering up. Now all of 18, he's a star winger for his pro club FC Barcelona – aka Barça. He doesn't just score goals. He's a master of improv. Watch here — it's almost like slapstick comedy — as he eludes a gaggle of grown men from the other team.Jon Wertheim: You're a teenager, sometimes these guys are ten, fifteen years older than you, they've got kids at home, and you're still clowning 'em.  Lamine Yamal (translation): If I were a fullback, I wouldn't like it if a player who's much better than me were to keep getting away from me all the time. I'd ask them "please slow down a little," otherwise my friends would make memes about it.Jon Wertheim: What do you see as your soccer superpower? Lamine Yamal (translation): I think that I would like to brighten people's day. For example, if someone is sad they can come to a game, watch me and feel better, so they go home happier than they were before. 60 Minutes Having recently finished second in the Ballon d'Or, global soccer's equivalent of the MVP race, Lamine has currency with his generation. He's also enraptured soccer purists like 70-year-old Ray Hudson, a former pro player, coach and broadcaster who's covered Lamine's games.Jon Wertheim: How good is this kid? Ray Hudson: He's extremely, extremely, extremely good. This is an absolute uncut diamond.Ray Hudson: There's times I've been watchin' him where I could swear that he's thrown his shadow the wrong way. And the defenders are just bewitched by this shift of the weight. He's a skitter bug. And like, watchin' a dragonfly. You know how when you see a dragonfly it…zit, zit, zit. And–Jon Wertheim: Put yourself in the defender's shoes. How, how would you defend that?Ray Hudson: Yeah, you have to ignore him, which is ridiculous. Because once Yamal sends you the wrong way with that wonderful feign that he has, the defender has to pay to get back into the stadium. Jon Wertheim: He needs a ticket to get back on the pitch? Ray Hudson: Exactly. Beautiful. Intoxicating to watch.Try averting your eyes from this… note the touch and spin — enough to shame a pool hustler — that Lamine Yamal puts on the ball. It's also the playmaking and vision, expressed in exquisite passes. The ball is more than a sphere he kicks; he calls it his first love.Jon Wertheim: You ever talk to the soccer ball?Lamine Yamal (translation): No, I'm not that crazy, but it could happen in the future.Jon Wertheim: What do you think you might say to the ball?Lamine Yamal (translation): I'd probably ask it to marry me and to have lots of kids. Inasmuch as an 18-year-old can be said to have grown up, Lamine did so here in Rocafonda, a struggling North African immigrant enclave a half hour northeast of Barcelona. He was born in Spain to a Moroccan father and Equatorial Guinean mother. He found his footing on this concrete slab, a short kick from the Mediterranean, a make-do soccer pitch, but also a promenade. The steps still double as bleachers. The graffiti reads: "In the neighborhood of Rocafonda, more Lamine Yamals and fewer evictions." Jon Wertheim: I'm wondering what's more stressful, playing for Barça or being the little kid playing in Rocafonda against the big kids. Lamine Yamal (translation): I think that without a doubt, when I was in Rocafonda, because, in the end, it was a neighborhood where no one knew what was going to happen in their lives. The truth is, no one knew whether they would become a soccer player, an architect, a painter, or whether they'd find a job. You see your parents working, they can't be with you all the time, and you feel, not nervous, but uncertain about what's going to happen to you.Today, after Lamine scores a goal, he acknowledges the old neighborhood.Jon Wertheim: The 304, what does that symbolize? What does that represent? Lamine Yamal (translation): It's the symbol for our neighborhood's zip code, because in Barcelona, the zip code starts with 08, and ours is 08304. Jon Wertheim: So, what is it? Right hand? Mm. Lamine Yamal: This here. Jon Wertheim: Okay. Lamine Yamal: And… Yes, like that. Lamine Yamal 60 Minutes Just blocks from the concrete pitch in Rocafonda, Lamine's Uncle Abdul runs the LY 304 Cafe. Jon Wertheim: Do you think, "a few years ago I was teaching this kid how to tie his shoe, and now he's scoring goals and bringing joy all over the world?" Uncle Abdul (translation): Yes, Lamine was very savvy as a child, doing everything on his own. He has the maturity of a 25- or 30-year-old.Lamine's prodigious talent was such that he was spotted by Barcelona scouts at age 6. Soon, he was taking the train to practice at La Masia, Barça's famed youth academy. From the start, he stood out. By 15, he was making his pro debut for Barça, the youngest player in the club's 126-year history. Two years and one dye job later, he's lived up to his promise.  Jon Wertheim: One thing that struck us watching you play is that when the game tightens, you want to make something happen. You wanna make magic. Where does that come from? Lamine Yamal (translation): Where I used to play, in my neighborhood… there were like walls where people would sit, and I think there was no better feeling than getting the people who were sitting there to stand up, to laugh at the opponents. I think it's the best feeling in the world and something that reminds me of that a lot is when I'm playing on the field and the fans get up and are surprised by a play I've made.Jon Wertheim: I get the feeling you don't mind being a star. Lamine Yamal (translation): No, honestly, I don't. In fact, I like it.Lamine's soccer sensibilities jibe with Barcelona. This is the city of Antoni Gaudi, the architect whose distinct buildings define Barcelona, contorting possibility. Likewise, Lamine is not merely a creative talent, but a bender of convention. Still, he's most closely associated with another Barcelona icon, a player enshrined at the club's museum, who played for Barça from 2004-2021 and won eight Ballons d'Or.Jon Wertheim: You ever made it this far in an interview and not had to answer a question about Messi? Lamine Yamal (translation): I was surprised, honestly, I was surprised, because there were moments where you could have brought him up, but you didn't, so I knew the question was coming but this topic has come up later than usual. Jon Wertheim: Should we get your standard answer, or should we try to put spin on the ball? Lamine Yamal: No, you can. You can. Jon Wertheim: Did you ever hear the expression "Game respects game?"Lamine Yamal (translation): I think that I respect him, in the end, for what he's been, for what he is to soccer, and if we ever meet one day on a soccer field, there'll be that mutual respect. He's the best in history. We both know I don't want to be Messi, and Messi knows I don't want to be him. I want to follow my own path, and that's it.The Messi/Lamine bracketing began way earlier than fans perhaps realize. We visited Joan Monfort in his photography studio in the middle of Barcelona. He showed us a series of images he took in October 2007 — then 20-year-old Lionel Messi, posing with a 3-month-old and his mother. The family had won a raffle to appear alongside a Barça player in a UNICEF calendar. That chubby-cheeked baby? Impossibly, it's Lamine Yamal.Jon Wertheim: What are the odds that you have Lionel Messi on the verge of stardom with Lamine Yamal, now on the verge of stardom?Joan Monfort (translation): It's like winning the lottery. It's a one in ten million chance. And I don't know, can you imagine if I told you right now that there's a photo of Michael Jordan giving a bath to LeBron James? Monfort, of course, had no idea at the time that he was taking historic photos. Jon Wertheim: Do you believe in the soccer Gods? Joan Monfort (translation): I didn't, but now I think I'm starting to believe in them a little bit.Fast-forward not even 18 years, Lamine's whole family — including his Moroccan grandma — came together last July when he signed a contract with Barça widely reported to pay him around $30 million a season. That day, he was also conferred No. 10, the same number Messi wore. Worried about the crushing weight of expectation? You got the wrong guy.Jon Wertheim: There's some noise as well that, boy, life is coming at this kid so fast, and slow down, Lamine Yamal. What's your response to that?Lamine Yamal (translation): Well, I would say that if, for example, you have a job and you get asked if you want to be the boss, what would you say? Yes or No? Am I going too fast? So that's my answer.Jon Wertheim: One thing we keep hearing is this kid's got it.  Ray Hudson: Right. Jon Wertheim: What is it?Ray Hudson: How do you describe moonlight? How do you describe candlelight? How do you count the bubbles in a glass of champagne? I don't know. I just know when I see it, it's bloody beautiful. Ray Hudson 60 Minutes Even Ray Hudson, for all his gushing, acknowledges there are plenty of blazing young soccer talents who fizzle out.Jon Wertheim: What could go wrong?Ray Hudson: Any number of things. You know, injuries, personal disputes, his family life. We'll see it on the pitch, because the green doesn't lie.Jon Wertheim: Athletes have their fans and their support teams. The successful athletes have people in their circle, too, who can tell them "no," who can call them on their nonsense. Who is that for you?  Lamine Yamal (translation): The truth is that everyone says "No." Everyone in my circle says "No" to everything. If I want to go out: "No." If I say that I want to go out to eat: "No." The question should be: "Who do you listen to?" My mother.Jon Wertheim: Can you be a normal 18-year-old at times? Lamine Yamal (translation): Hmm, that's a difficult question because in the end, an 18-year-old kid gets out of school and goes home. I go out to practice while four paparazzi are at my house asking me questions about my life. I turn on the TV, and I'm on TV. I walk down the street, and I see a kid wearing my jersey. I want to go out for a drink, and I can't because people will stop me. I always try to find the simplest things to do, like play video games or spend time with my brother. But, yes, honestly, I do believe that I'll never be a normal 18-year-old, because people don't see me as normal, and I won't be able to act that way.Some athletes have signature tattoos. As you've no doubt noticed, Lamine has signature braces, los brackets in Spanish, containing him in a way defenders cannot.Jon Wertheim: Braces come on or off before [the] World Cup?Lamine Yamal (translation): I wish it were up to me, but I don't know. I'll have to call my dentist and ask if I'll still have braces or not. But I think they suit me. Lamine Yamal: I look good with brackets. Me, I look good. Yes? Lamine Yamal (translation): I'll leave them on, then.Jon Wertheim: The goals and the assists are all well and good, but you've made braces cool.Lamine Yamal: [laughs] Jon Wertheim: It doesn't get better than that.Lamine Yamal (In Spanish): Sí, sí, sí. Totalmente.With or without braces, Lamine and his Spanish teammates will be on the short-list of World Cup favorites next summer in North America. Just ask the star himself.Jon Wertheim: Whether it's Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali or Joe Namath, these are all athletes way older than you, there's a history of guaranteeing victory. So, I ask you, does Spain win the World Cup?  Lamine Yamal: In English? Yes.Produced by Draggan Mihailovich and Nathalie Sommer. Field producer, Sabina Castelfranco. Associate producer, Emily Cameron. Broadcast associate, Mimi Lamarre. Edited by Warren Lustig.Special thanks to Guillem Balagué. More from CBS News Lamine Yamal's extended 60 Minutes interview in Spanish Inter Miami advances to MLS Cup final with 5-1 win over NYCFC How to watch NYCFC-Inter Miami MLS Eastern Conference final tonight Karl-Anthony Towns leads 6 in double figures, Knicks top Raptors Part of I-95 North in Philadelphia to close overnight for CAP project work

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