{"id":57376,"date":"2026-07-19T05:36:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T05:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/57376\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T05:36:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T05:36:36","slug":"barcelona-icon-hails-messi-backs-lamine-yamal-to-shine-at-world-cup-final-he-enjoys-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/57376\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona icon hails Messi, backs Lamine Yamal to shine at World Cup final: ‘He enjoys pressure’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gerard Pique believes Lamine Yamal is made for occasions like the World Cup final, with the former Barcelona defender insisting the teenager has already shown he can thrive under the biggest pressure football has to offer.<\/p>\n

Yamal will carry Spain\u2019s attacking hopes when Luis de la Fuente\u2019s side face Argentina<\/a> on Sunday, and praise for the Barcelona winger continues to arrive from some of the biggest names in the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi, Lionel Scaloni, Xavi Hernandez and Spain\u2019s head coach have all spoken about the 19-year-old this week<\/a>, and Pique has now joined that list.<\/p>\n

Pique believes Yamal is built for biggest stage<\/p>\n

Speaking before the World Cup final, Pique explained why he has complete faith in the Barcelona star despite the pressure that comes with playing in such a high-profile occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cLamine Yamal is very young, but I think he\u2019s had an early start to life and has had to deal with and adapt to many situations.<\/p>\n

\"LamineLamine Yamal has been backed by Gerard Pique. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this has made him mature faster and prove that he\u2019s ready to face situations like Sunday\u2019s final. It might be difficult for a 19-year-old, under such immense pressure, to cope with it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t think Lamine has any trouble with it; in fact, I think he enjoys it. I believe he\u2019s a special and unique talent, and let\u2019s hope he\u2019s crowned world champion on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s enjoy watching Lamine; he\u2019s a truly unique and exceptional talent, and let\u2019s hope he becomes world champion on Sunday,\u201d said the former Barcelona defender.<\/p>\n

Pique reflects on Lionel Messi\u2019s legacy<\/p>\n

Pique also spoke about Messi, his former Barcelona teammate, who will captain Argentina as he looks to win a second consecutive World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Leo wins the title, it would be a fantastic story for him to win it twice in a row. Perhaps many people didn\u2019t expect that because Leo was getting on in years.<\/p>\n

\"LionelLionel Messi is chasing consecutive World Cup titles. (Photo by Elsa\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain already won it in 2010 \u2013 it was one of the most wonderful experiences of my career \u2013 and winning it again would be a great achievement for the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how any team can stop Messi, Pique admitted there is rarely a perfect solution. He explained,<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s extraordinary. It doesn\u2019t matter if you mark him with one, two or three players.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will find a way to unsettle the opposition\u2019s defence and create an advantage for his team, whether with a decisive pass, a goal or by leaving a teammate unmarked,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Source: ESPN<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerard Pique believes Lamine Yamal is made for occasions like the World Cup final, with the former Barcelona…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,223,4865,938,332,369],"class_list":["post-57376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-gerard-pique","tag-lamine-yamal","tag-lionel-messi","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}