Lamine Yamal's brilliant two-goal performance against France sends clear Ballon d'Or message as the Barcelona teenager dominates on football's

The 17-year-old was at his rampant best in Spain's 5-4 win vs France — but it was his second goal that gave a glimpse of how unusual he is

Cristiano Ronaldo got brutally honest on the meteoric rise of Barcelona star Lamine Yamal ahead of Spain vs Portugal.

Spain’s teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal and Portugal’s ageless icon Cristiano Ronaldo are set to collide for the first time in a blockbuster UEFA Nations League final on Sunday — a showdown that promises both high stakes and a generational spectacle at Munich’s Allianz Arena.

Three years before Yamal was born, Lionel Messi’s Barcelona rookie card was released and there was no debate about it. By the third edition of Panini’s 2004 Megacracks, there was just one Messi trading card, the #71BIS, where a PSA 10 grade most recently sold for $312,000 via Fanatics Collect (19 in existence, with a gem rate of just 2%).

Yamal is a contender to become the youngest ever Ballon d’Or winner thanks to his starring role in Barcelona’s La Liga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España domestic treble. But

France head coach Didier Deschamps has given his full backing to Ousmane Dembélé for the Ballon d'Or, ahead of his side's UEFA Nations League semifinal with a Spain side featuring another leading contender for the award, Lamine Yamal.