Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni has revealed what his teammates will do to contain Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal in the Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old sensation was in imperious form last time when the two sides met, as he netted a sublime goal, to help the Blaugrana rescue a 3-3 draw.
Bastoni, who faced Yamal during the European Championship when Spain defeated Italy 1-0, showered praise while reflecting on the youngster’s growth.
“I had already faced him with Spain, and he was not yet at this level,” Bastoni said in a press conference on Monday.
“I was impressed by the level he reached, for his age and ability to create incredible things on the pitch, I think he is among the best in the world right now.
“We’ll have to double, maybe triple [mark] him like we did at times in the first leg, but without exaggerating, otherwise we would create too many spaces. Barcelona is not just Yamal.”
The pulsating first leg, filled with early chaos, late drama and Yamal’s history-making feats, has set the stage for what Bastoni likened to “game seven of the NBA finals.”
“It’s 50-50, all open, and I think it will be a similar game from the first leg, so I’m glad that we will play in front of our fans,” Bastoni continued.
“I can only be proud of how far we have come. We are two games away from winning the Champions League. It is our goal, we really want to make a good impression, to make the people who follow us happy.
“We are sure that our fans will give us a big hand at the San Siro, we live for moments like this.”
Inter manager Simone Inzaghi concurred with Bastoni, stating that their defensive strategy would primarily focus on neutralising Yamal.
“[Defending Yamal] is very difficult, we’ll have to try not to let him get the ball, but that’s impossible in modern football,” said Inzaghi.
“He’ll be closely marked, he’ll be double-marked, and we’ll try to be careful. However, as I said in the first leg, having seen him live, he’s a huge talent: at his age, he’s really dangerous.
“In difficult moments, they hand him the ball, and I was impressed by his quick thinking. When he receives the ball, he already knows what to do next.”
