Sports
Lamine Yamal and his 14 seconds of Lionel Messi-like magic against Alaves
You wonder what went through the mind of Alaves’ left-back, Manu Sanchez, three minutes into the game against Barcelona at Montjuic yesterday.
Lamine Yamal, the player who Sanchez was assigned to mark for the next 87 minutes or so of his life, had dribbled past him and four other team-mates in practically his first involvement of the match.
Sanchez would have been forgiven for thinking he might be in for a long afternoon.
In a way, Alaves can be happy with how they contained Barcelona overall. The Catalans got a scrappy 1-0 win at home against a relegation-battling side in a must-win game, after Real Madrid lost across town against Espanyol the night before. Hansi Flick’s side are now four points behind their main rivals at the top of La Liga, and the 2024-25 title race feels more alive than ever as we enter February.
A packed fixture list on Madrid’s side, including a two-legged Champions League play-off against Manchester City on February 11 and 19, could do Barca, who are straight through to the round of 16 in March, a favour too.
But weeks and perhaps months will pass, and Yamal’s outrageous early solo run will linger in the minds of those who were present.
It is nothing new to see fans on the edge of their seats every time Yamal gets the football, but the sequence that started at 3:45 on the clock and finished 14 seconds later had most of the 42,900 attending at Montjuic roaring in excitement, louder and louder as he glided by opponent after opponent.
Lamine Yamal. 🤩 #LALIGAHighlights | @FCBarcelona pic.twitter.com/DNKZSow4Kt
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) February 2, 2025
It’s sometimes easy to forget that Lamine Yamal is still only 17 years old.
Let’s go back to the very start of this extraordinary move.
Yamal picked up possession on the right-hand side, his comfort zone, but in Barcelona’s half of the pitch. Sanchez was pressing him straight away, but the teenager shifted the ball back in the direction it came, wrongfooting his initial opponent immediately.
After he disarmed Sanchez with a shoulder feint and a dribble on his left foot, Alaves’ left-winger Tomas Conechny was there waiting to double up on the Spain international prodigy.
The 17-year-old shielded the ball, then burst past both players and cut inside towards a central area.
Sanchez admitted defeat at this point and returned to his left-back role, but Conechny chose to persevere, following Yamal and trying to grab his arm.
More backup was needed.
The attacking midfielder Jon Guridi now made an attempt to reach Yamal, but the latter was already operating in a different gear.
Antonio Blanco, one of the visitors’ holding midfielders, tried to step into Yamal but a quick flick of his left foot meant that tackle was useless. Yamal kept moving forward.
Now Conechny was back for round two, this time trying to perform a merciless sliding tackle. In some part of his peripheral vision, the Barca winger saw him coming and quickly switched his ball to the right foot — sending Conechny out for tapas.
Those in the Montjuic stands were loving every second of it, never wanting the run to end.
Guridi and Blanco now tried to take Yamal down again but failed again.
Alaves’ other holding midfielder, Ander Guevara, now stood in Yamal’s path and fancied his luck, but with so many players now crowded around him, Yamal opted to find his team-mate Raphinha in plenty of space out on the left-hand side.
With a trivela pass.
GO DEEPER
Lamine Yamal’s trademark trivela: Dissecting the Barcelona star’s work of art
(Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Raphinha took a shot at goal that went wide, though few in the stadium really cared. The fans were still roaring for Yamal, making the kind of comparisons in their heads with past Barcelona greats that managers understandably tend to try to downplay, for fear of inflaming the hype. But Yamal is no ordinary talent.
“Lamine is already one of the best players in the world, to be honest,” said Alaves full-back Sanchez in an interview with Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo. And that was before yesterday’s match.
On a similar note, here is Barcelona’s starting goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, in an interview with Italian media outlet La Gazzetta Dello Sport last week.
“For me, they’re the two biggest talents I’ve seen in my life, both (Kenan) Yildiz (at Szczesny’s previous club Juventus) and Yamal. They’re very different because Lamine, technically, it’s absurd. Yildiz is stronger physically. He’s already ready physically. But technically, Lamine is… it’s so impressive. So it’s really hard to make a comparison but they’re two extraordinary talents and, in my opinion, they’ll both do big things.”
Yamal’s performance on Sunday went beyond his jaw-dropping run. According to Opta, he attempted 20 dribbles and succeeded with 11 of them, and equalled the most by a Barcelona footballer in a single game since the 2005-06 season at least.

Guess whose record he matched…
Yes, it was Lionel Messi, in 2006-07 against Mallorca. He attempted 20 dribbles that day, completing 10 of them.

Yamal was also involved in the goal against Alaves, which was scored by Robert Lewandowski when he tapped in a volleyed shot by the teenager. La Liga did not count it as an assist, as Yamal’s attempt deflected off Alaves defender Nahuel Tenaglia before reaching Lewandowski. Never mind. He still leads the league for that metric this season with 11 in 19 games.
His progression has been superb since breaking into the Barcelona first team last season, and those around the club feel blessed to have such a talent on their hands.
In the back of their minds, though, there is a silent debate over the best way to handle Yamal. If, at the age of 17, he is already so fundamental to the club’s overall project, what is coming next for him? What is the best way to make sure his development stays on the right track, or to be sure that the teenager’s mind can stay in the right place?
Last week, Flick subbed Yamal off in the dying minutes of their final league-phase match in the Champions League, against Atalanta. The teenager was visibly frustrated with the substitution, as he was enjoying himself after scoring one goal.
As he made his way to the bench, Flick stopped him and had a friendly chat to try to smooth things over. Yamal was then named man of the match, and therefore had some media duties to go through. Initially, he was not feeling in the mood to go and speak to broadcasters but eventually agreed to after a conversation with the club’s press officers.
(Pedro Salado/Getty Images)
It was described more as a heat-of-the-moment situation rather than anything with a deeper significance from those in the dressing room, but in a way reflects how Flick wants to protect Yamal from the public eye and excessive scrutiny during press conferences.
Straight after the win yesterday, he was asked about Yamal’s display and whether it was reminiscent of other club greats such as Messi and Diego Maradona.
“I am not a fan of comparisons and all that,” Flick said. “Lamine is a genius. I’ve already said that in the past. What he did today in some situations was unbelievable. I am so happy that he is a Barca player and I want him to do this week after week.
“Again, he is just 17.”
GO DEEPER
What makes Lamine Yamal such a special footballer?
(Top photo: Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)
Sports
Toronto Maple Leafs top pick Gavin McKenna reveals that he’s changing his jersey number
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Toronto Maple Leafs No. 1 draft pick Gavin McKenna has already been on the ice with the team as it held its development camp this week, but the highly-touted rookie is going to have to make a big change for this fall.
His number.
When he was playing for the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers and then again at Penn State this past season, McKenna wore the No. 72.
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Toronto Maple Leafs top pick Gavin McKenna has revealed that he’ll be opting for a new number for his rookie campaign. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
The expectation was that McKenna would wear No. 72 with the Maple Leafs, and he did so this week at development camp. Plenty of fans have also already ordered No. 72 jerseys with his name on the back.
On most rosters, No. 72 is unique enough that he wouldn’t run into any issues wearing it. However, on July 1, the Leafs signed two-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who has worn No. 72 for most of his career, except during his first two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, when he wore No. 35.
So, some were wondering how this would work out. Would the Leafs want their new franchise player to get his pick of the number litter, or would they defer to a two-time Vezina winner?
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Gavin McKenna wore No. 72 in juniors, as well as last season at Penn State. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)
Well, it turns out that McKenna will be the one swapping numbers, and he’ll be switching to No. 92 this season.
McKenna had to get creative here because the obvious number changes were a no-go in Toronto. Adding 7 and 2 would be 9, but that was retired in honor of Charlie Conacher and Ted Kennedy.
Another option would’ve been to flip the digits and go with No. 27, but that was retired in honor of Frank Mahovlich and Darryl Sittler.
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So, 92 it is.
However, McKenna reached out to one of the three previous players to wear the number, Jeff O’Neill, to ask whether he was comfortable with him using it.
It’s fair to say he was down with the idea.
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McKenna will be a key piece of a Maple Leafs team that is looking to bounce back after a nightmare 2025-26 campaign that saw them finish last in the Atlantic Division.
Sports
Dodgers’ Eliezer Alfonzo praying his sister and stepmother will be found in Venezuela
It’ll be the culmination of nine minor-league seasons. But Eliezer Alfonzo‘s major-league debut on Sunday won’t include his family watching from Dodger Stadium.
Alfonzo’s younger sister, Eliana, and stepmother, Patricia, have been missing since last month when earthquakes caused widespread devastation in his home country of Venezuela.
“I’ve been trying to support my dad a lot, every day talking to him, trying to be with him,” Alfonzo said of the elder Eliezer Alfonzo, a retired major-league catcher. “It’s a little tough from here because I would like to be there with him, supporting him every day.”
His father, of course, would love to be in attendance for his son’s debut. He told him as much when he heard the Dodgers were calling him up.
The Dodgers switched their backup catchers Saturday, optioning Chuckie Robinson. They saw an opportunity to give Alfonzo some runway behind Dalton Rushing, with starting catcher Will Smith’s stay on the injured list expected to extend through the All-Star break.
The elder Eliezer Alfonzo, however, is doing whatever he can to locate his wife and daughter. Their dog was found alive, which gave the younger Eliezer Alfonzo hope.
“We’ve just gotta stay together as a family, as a country,” Alfonzo said. “Because I feel like we’re a beautiful country, we’re a really beautiful people over there. It’s not just about my family, it’s all families that have lost people already. But we’ve got hope. We just pray, we ask God to give them back to us alive.”
Alfonzo’s locker in the clubhouse is next to countryman Miguel Rojas’ stall. Rojas’ wife, Mariana, and their two children were in Venezuela, planning to renew Mariana’s passport and seek Venezuelan citizenship for their children, when the earthquakes hit. They managed to stay safe and have returned to the U.S.
“I just want to be here for him,” Rojas said. “At the end of the day, that’s the best thing I can do for him, is being a good teammate and being a friend for him. Because I know there’s going to be ups and downs. He’s going to have a lot of time to be caught [up] in baseball, and that’s going to probably take his mind away from stuff. But sometimes he’s probably going to feel weak, and he’s going to start thinking about his family. So I’m going to be here, I’m right next to him. And that’s what I told him.”
Rojas, who played against the elder Eliezer Alfonzo for years in Venezuela, reached out Saturday morning and promised him he’d save the ball from his son’s first major-league hit.
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Kylian Mbappé’s seventh goal of the World Cup lifts France past Paraguay in physical Round of 16 match
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The United States may not have been in action on Independence Day, but France — who fittingly played an important role in the Revolutionary War — was on the pitch in Philadelphia against Paraguay in a massive Round of 16 clash for a trip to the quarterfinals.
It was a hot day in the birthplace of our nation, and that made things difficult for both teams in more ways than one.
While Paraguay is a great squad, they were significant underdogs against a heavily favored French team led by superstar Kylian Mbappé, who has been lighting it up this tournament.
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French and Paraguayan players get into a shoving match during their Round of 16 match on Saturday in Philadelphia. (Kyle Ross-Imagn Images)
Obviously, the heat itself is a factor, but it also made for a slower pitch, something that was believed to play into the hands of Paraguay.
However, most of the action in the first half was played on their end as France put the pressure on through the first half hour of the match.
It was intense, and that intensity boiled over in the 35th minute with some pushing and shoving after Mbappé and Paraguay’s Andrés Cubas started a wild shoving match.
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But while the intensity ramped up — and stayed high for pretty much the entire game — Paraguay weathered the storm and had every reason to feel good about reaching halftime with the game scoreless.
France got some more scoring opportunities in the early part of the second half, including a near-breakaway for Mbappé.
France’s Kylian Mbappe scored the go-ahead and ultimately game-winning goal against Paraguay on a penalty kick. (James Lang-Imagn Images)
In the 67th minute, France was awarded a penalty kick for a foul against Desire Doue that had to go to VAR for review, and it was Mbappé who took it.
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Mbappé has tended to do most of his damage in the second half, and that trend continued here with him drilling the penalty past Paraguay goaltender Orlando Gill.
That was his 19th career World Cup goal, and his seventh of this tournament alone, tying him with Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the tournament lead.
Paraguay seemed to fade after the Mbappé goal, but turned it on again late, forcing Mike Maignan to make his first save of the day about 89 and a half minutes into the match.
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It seemed like Paraguay’s plan was to try and get a rise out of the French, and they succeeded in drawing three yellow cards. In fact, they even tried to keep that going after the match with players meeting near midfield for some more pushing and shoving.
But France is moving on, and they will take on Morocco in a quarterfinal match on Thursday in Boston.
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