Mikel Arteta got it wrong about Arsenal – and Lamine Yamal proved exactly why

Neither Arsenal nor Barcelona will line up for the Champions League final later this month, but Lamine Yamal’s efforts in vain doesn’t hide the truth about the La Liga giants

The third of a minimum of five minutes’ added time had begun when Lamine Yamal advanced deep into Inter territory, his Barcelona side with the scent of a Champions League final in its nostrils.

There appeared to be three options for the 17-year-old. Head towards the corner flag and run down the clock, try to draw a foul from the defenders who were looking to engage with him, or go for goal.

Only for Yamal, actually, there was really only one option and a strike hit with typical audacity cannoned against Yann Sommer’s left-hand post. Forty-two seconds later, the unlikely figure of Francesco Acerbi had equalised and David Frattesi would go on to claim a lovely Inter winner to round off a truly remarkable match.

In commentary boxes, some wise old pros shook their heads knowingly. If only Yamal had been a little more streetwise, shown some shrewder game-management, they said. He’ll learn from that, they said. He’ll know next time, they said.

And there is even a chance some of them actually believed what they were saying.

When the next time comes up, Yamal will do exactly the same. And it is a shame that next time will not be in Munich on May 31.

If Mikel Arteta thinks his Arsenal were the best team in the competition, despite being beaten in the semi-final – as he claimed in Paris on Wednesday – then he was not watching the previous night’s game in Milan. Over the two legs against Inter, defensive vulnerability cost Barcelona but they were the best team to watch in the competition.

And Yamal has been the best player to watch. People refer to the fearlessness of youth – he does not turn 18 until the middle of July – but you can bet your mortgage on this phenomenal talent not changing his ways.

The most underestimated quality on a football pitch is the ability to take opponents on, to get past them. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

But it has become a dying art. Players are not programmed to do it. The game is about patterns, getting past a defender is not a priority.

Thankfully, Yamal shows that nothing can be as potent as beating a defender. He completed a total of 14 successful dribbles in the San Siro and was only denied a goal by at least two sensational saves from Sommer.

At the end of the match, Yamal was consoled by Marcus Thuram but the Inter man would later – if only briefly – mock the Barcelona player’s assertion that he was “on a mission.”

On one of his social media sites, Thuram posted a picture of himself and Yamal, with the words ‘ON A MISSION EH!! ”

He quickly took it down but it could have been argued Yamal, even in defeat, had been on a mission. He had been on a mission to play the game in the way the game should be played.

Now that Yamal will not be featuring in the Champions League final, the assumption is that the Ballon D’Or is now more likely to go to a player who lifts the big trophy in Munich. Should PSG win, Ousmane Dembele would be a possibility.

But Yamal is a Copa del Rey winner this season and his Barca team will almost certainly complete the job in La Liga and seal a domestic double. And the teenager has lit up European football with his approach, his attitude and his ability.

There will be no Champions League winners’ medal but surely no-one would begrudge him the Ballon D’Or.

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