EDITO – By exploiting the symbolism of number 10 for Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona launched a match that far exceeds the green rectangle.
So close, so far. HAS Look closely, many things separate Kylian Mbappé from Lamine Yamal. Age already. The Frenchman is 26 years old when Spanish has just breathed his 18th candle. The technical register, too. The Blues and striker Real
is extraordinary in the finish and more common in Creation, there the whimsical and confusing winger of Barça base the essence of his game on creation (by his dribbles or his passes) and remains very perfectible in his finish (9 goals in Liga last season).
But there is a terrain where these two generational precocious will never be far away: that of light. Because they were born for that. They are kings. This is the meaning of their career. In their distance confrontations, the Barcelona prodigy leads to the point -seven victories to one, clubs and selections combined -, but in their media impact, Mbappé and Yamal are almost on the same line, which says a lot of the incredible dimension taken by the little left -hander.
La Liga has this mania to live with the weight of its glorious past. A little too much, even. It vibrated under the prowess of the two monsters of the 21st century, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Everything was grand in the film: the casting, the script, the rhythm, the small music, the dispersion of roles. A single legend for two talent interpretations. Two characters, two ambitions. A brilliant and silent little, a large insatiable and proud. Wanting to write a second part would be heresy. When the original is a masterpiece, the rest is often bland. But in football as elsewhere, nature hates a vacuum.
After Messi-Ronaldo, that's another story
Mbappé and Yamal do not belong to the same generation but their paths cross in the same time. It's enough to tell another story. Their own story. It will never be a remake of Messi-Ronaldo, it will last the time it will last, but we can count on Real Madrid and Barça to continue producing it as a Hollywood blockbuster, without faith or law. This banal summer week was the symbol.
On Wednesday, July 17, Barça staged the allocation of number 10 to Lamine Yamal, worthy successor to the Messi, Ronaldinho and other rivaldo. In the process, Tuesday 23,
Real Madrid assigned number 10 to Kylian Mbappé After the departure of the emblematic Luka Modrić. Let's sweep the technical considerations of this choice to dwell on the symbolic dimension. Kylian Mbappé is not a 10. He was and would remain an absolutely fantastic 7 or 11, but he is not a 10. Just he had become a 9, in his own way.
Kylian Mbappé with number 9 in his first season in Madrid.
It is however on the 10th that he has worked on the back since 2018 in the French team. Bondy's kid was demanding this issue from the age of 19. Because the 10 has another meaning in 2025. It is no longer limited to a role or a register in the field, but gives global responsibility. That of a lighthouse, a gondola head. What Lamine Yamal, to the different attributes of Kylian Mbappé, is already at Barça without being the most decisive player.
Give me your number, I'll tell you who you are
And then we're not going to lie: the match in the match is also played in the stores officials of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Kylian Mbappé is never satisfied in his quest for personal glory, but you also have to be honest and remember that it is his club that is the source of this change of number. Behind his little teenage rings, the little Yamal also has long teeth and brooded the famous 10, but that does not prevent Barça from reveling in potential sales for the upcoming campaign. Because a change of number on a jersey, for a socioit is also a call to bring out the wallet.
Since the numbers no longer have a great meaning, should we give more importance than that to this story? This remains a derisory news fact. But he says a lot about what has become of our football. With its vices, virtues and role -playing games. The film is already in the box: written, turned, mounted,
marketer. What does it matter to what sauce to eat it. Digest or not, the clasico is launched.
