Sport
Yamal already has 50 goals for Barcelona! When did Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé, Haaland reach half-centuries?
Key Points
On Monday night, Lamine Yamal scored to put Barcelona 2-1 up against Rayo Vallecano. It was the first his two goals on the night for the LaLiga champions as they ran out 5-2 winners at Camp Nou. That first goal was notable not just because Yamal expertly fired the ball into the top corner for his first goal of the season, but because it was also his 50th for Barça in all competitions, on his 154th senior appearance for the club.
On Monday night, Lamine Yamal scored to put Barcelona 2-1 up against Rayo Vallecano. It was the first his two goals on the night for the LaLiga champions as they ran out 5-2 winners at Camp Nou.
That first goal was notable not just because Yamal expertly fired the ball into the top corner for his first goal of the season, but because it was also his 50th for Barça in all competitions, on his 154th senior appearance for the club.
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At the age of just 19 years and 49 days, Yamal has already racked up an astonishing 103 career goal contributions for Barcelona: 51 goals, 52 assists.
But where does his reaching the 50-goal milestone stand against some of the other prodigies who became greats of the modern game?
Erling Haaland
Yamal ranks among the youngest players to score 50 career goals, though he is not the fastest. That would be Manchester City striker Haaland.
It took Haaland just 78 games to reach his half-century, a feat he achieved at 19 years and 181 days old.
Haaland was already the world's most promising young striker when he arrived at Borussia Dortmund having scored a 49 top-flight league goals for Molde in his native Norway and Austrian side FC Salzburg. And he showed the world exactly why on his Dortmund debut on Jan.18, 2020, when he came off the bench to score a hat trick in a 5-2 win over Augsburg.
Neymar
Neymar is the only player to have surpassed Yamal in terms of youth: he reached the 50-goal milestone at 18 years and 272 days, and did so in 50 fewer matches (104.)
He hit his 50th goal on Nov. 3, 2010, almost three years before his move to Camp Nou, with a goal for Santos against Vitória.
Kylian Mbappé
Yamal's great rival at Real Madrid, Mbappé reached 50 goals at 19 years and 241 days of age, after playing 106 matches for Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain.
He did so in his first Ligue 1 match after signing permanently for PSG, following his loan spell there the previous season, and since scoring twice in France's FIFA World Cup final triumph over Croatia. On Aug. 18, 2018, the first of his two late strikes in a 3-1 win at Guingamp brought up his half-century of senior club goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo is the latest on this list, as he reached the milestone at 22 years and 42 days, after 208 games with Manchester United. He scored the only goal of the game in an FA Cup quarterfinal replay against Middlesbrough on March 19, 2007.
Almost two full decades later, CR7 is closing in on his 1,000th career goal.
Lionel Messi
Barcelona's all-time top scorer is behind Yamal in terms of his age when he reached his 50th career club goal.
The Argentina captain needed 119 games to reach 50 goals with Barcelona and did so at the age of 21 years and 120 days, on Oct. 22, 2008, against Basel.
This article was first published in Spanish and has been translated.