Villarreal midfielder Dani Parejo rated FC Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal higher than rival Kylian … More
Villarreal midfielder Dani Parejo rated FC Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal higher than rival Kylian Mbappe, who has played for a ‘weak’ Real Madrid team this term, when appearing on Spanish radio program El Larguero.
Parejo has faced Lamine twice in 2024/2025, with their last showdown Sunday’s 3-2 win for the Yellow Submarine against a tired Barca outfit in Montjuic that before the weekend celebrated completing a domestic treble with fans in the streets on the Catalan capital.
Discussing the teenage Ballon d’Or candidate, Parejo says that Lamine “is a boy who is touched by the wand”.
“He seems to me to be a special boy who has something that others don’t have, which is to understand the game. It’s amazing that at 17 years old he understands it the way he does.”
Parejo also said that Mbappe “doesn’t surprise me with what he can do”. But “despite the goals he has scored, which are outrageous, I think that Lamine scoring 20 goals less adds much more”.
“The goals give you the money, wins trophies and titles. But in my opinion, playing football is something else. You must obviously have him, but he has to do more.”
Parejo believes that Flick’s Barca is a “very deserved” league champion and has “been the best team for everything. For its dynamism, for its verticality, for its way of playing” – even though he doesn’t love its style of defending, i.e. a high line which heavily relies on the offside trap but is on occasion caught out.
Madrid is a team that can “compete with two players who beat you a game in two actions,” but Parejo didn’t “like it at all” this season.
“Neither tactically nor defensively, any team has scored two or three goals [against it], they are very weak at the back,” he stated.
Injuries have been a factor at Real Madrid
That being said, Parejo conceded that Madrid “has had very important casualties” when it comes to a lengthy list of injures that meant Carlo Ancelotti was rarely able to call on all his stars.
This made Real Madrid “very weak” in Parejo’s eyes, giving “far below what it can give”. With Los Blancos already making summer signings, though, it should enjoy increased strength under Xabi Alonso in 2025/2026.
