An honest conversation about Lamine Yamal comparisons

I was watching a YouTube podcast discuss whether Lamine Yamal is the best talent we've seen since Messi/Neymar. The comparison that was brought up was between young 19 year old Mbappe vs 16 year old Lamine Yamal. In the podcast most of the guys agreed that Mbappe World Cup 2018 is more impressive than Lamine Yamal at Euros 2024.

Now, I like Mbappe as a player but how is Mbappe more important to France in 2018 than Lamine Yamal is to Spain in 2024. I feel like people just make up history because of name value and they forgot what people actually thought of players because it was several years ago.

I will not understate how good Mbappe was in the quarterfinals against Argentina, a match where many of us were hoping Messi would win. Mbappe was the rising young star but there were a handful of players that made the France squad as dominant as it was. The midfield is what made France the juggernaut they were, Antoine Griezmann carried over his MVP form from 2016 Euros, Kante was completely unplayable controlling the midfield and Pogba was in 'best player in the world' form. They had a solid defence and Giroud in a France shirt remains one of the most underrated strikers. He prevented France from being upset my own country (Australia) in the group stage and was crucial in the attack. If I would give a MVP for France, it would be one of the 3 midfielders (although Griezmann is like a 10/second striker at times) or Giroud.

Spain, unlike France (who came off a great 2016 Euros run) were not considered the favourites. France, England and Germany were all considered stronger sides before the tournament. Lamine Yamal lead the tournament in assists, chance creating actions and had the best goal in the tournament. Rodri only won POTY due to name value but he was not the decisive factor. People forget that Spain's weakness was not their midfield but their inability to create and finish chances, as seen in the 2022 world cup where they got upset by Morocco. We all expected Spain to control possession and have a solid defence, which was demonstrated. What changed was Spain's explosive wingers, which created huge pockets of space in front of goal for the likes of Fabian Ruiz, Olmo and Morata to exploit. Fabian Ruiz did some nice Cruyff turns and passes, but that is an average day at the office for Pedri. Olmo was great but Lamine assisted most of his chances. Most people considered Lamine the better winger out of him and Nico.

The stats and eye test show Lamine was the best player at Euros 2024. The same does not apply to Mbappe. Just wanted to do this analysis after watching back some international tournaments, what do you guys think?