Lamine Yamal is climbing the Champions League assist charts at an incredible rate, and six more legends sit within his reach this season. The Barcelona forward already passed Steven Gerrard, Eden Hazard and David Silva with his two assists against Galatasaray on Tuesday.
Yamal now has 13 Champions League assists for his career. Over the next few months, he should be able to overtake the following players.
David Beckham
One more assist puts Yamal level with Beckham on 14. Beckham played more than 100 times in the Champions League across his spells with Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and PSG.
Some sources, like Transfermarkt, list a higher tally for Beckham, but the UEFA website says 13. It is UEFA’s competition, so that is the figure that counts here.
Andrea Pirlo
Next on 15 is Pirlo, an absolute magician of a midfielder. He won the Champions League twice with AC Milan and finished as a runner-up twice, once with Milan and once with Juventus.
Like Beckham, Pirlo made more than 100 Champions League appearances. Yamal currently has 35.
Marco Reus
Reus is a rare face of modern-day loyalty, and he also has 15 Champions League assists, all of them for Borussia Dortmund. He played 72 times in the competition before leaving for MLS, shortly after finishing as a runner-up for the second time.
Luis Figo
When Yamal reaches 15, he will also match Figo. He is probably best off not copying Figo’s decision to quit Barcelona for Real Madrid, though.
Figo won the Ballon d’Or at his best, and that is the level Yamal is striving for. As with Beckham, different sources give different Champions League assist tallies for Figo, and for the next two names on this list.
Thierry Henry
On 16, the former Arsenal, Monaco and Barcelona forward Henry could also be surpassed. People tend to think of him as a goalscorer, but he was an attacking talent who could play anywhere and make an impact.
That meant he was just as likely to create chances as to convert them. He once recorded 20 assists in a single Premier League season.
Raul
Raul once stood as the Champions League’s all-time top scorer, until Cristiano Ronaldo set a new record that will probably last forever. The Real Madrid legend also set up plenty of goals, 16 in fact.
That benchmark is not out of reach for Yamal, although Raul’s goal tally of 71 will be, for now.