Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has heaped fresh praise on Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal. He says the teenager is further along at 19 than two of football's greatest players, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, were at the same age. The report comes from Tori News, which published it on 10 November 2026.
What Gerrard said about Yamal
According to Tori News, Gerrard made the remarks in an interview. The report does not name the outlet or give the date of the interview. Gerrard reportedly said he has never seen a 19-year-old do on the pitch what Yamal is doing.
On Ronaldo, Gerrard reportedly said the Portugal star was less developed than Yamal at 19. He is also said to have drawn on his own experience of facing Messi as a youngster, concluding that the Argentine was probably less advanced at that age too. These are Tori News's paraphrases of Gerrard's views, and no direct quotes from him were supplied.
Yamal's rise at Barcelona
Yamal broke into Barcelona's first team in 2023. Tori News reports that he has come close to winning the Ballon d'Or in each of the past two years. He finished behind Ousmane Dembele in one of those years and behind Harry Kane in the other, according to the report.
The comparison will interest Nigerian football fans, who follow Messi, Ronaldo and Barcelona closely. It is one man's opinion, and the report offers no statistics to back it up.
- Based on reporting byTori News: Steven Gerrard Says Lamine Yamal Is Better Than Messi and Ronaldo at 19
