Morata praises Lamine Yamal: "He's much smarter and harder working than people think"

Álvaro Morata has once again bowed to Lamine Yamal. With the Ballon d'Or ceremony set to take place in London next January, the AC Milan striker spoke warmly about the Barcelona winger, with whom he shared a dressing room at international level, and focused on a side of his game that often goes unnoticed: his intelligence when reading matches and preparing for them.

• Morata says Lamine Yamal is smarter and harder working than most people realise.
• The striker believes the Barcelona youngster studies and prepares for matches in remarkable detail.
• He recalls a training anecdote with Spain, when Yamal was just 16, that stunned the squad.
• Morata admits Spain was not ready to watch a player that young dominate in Europe.
• He says it would make him happy to see Yamal at the very top of world football.

Lamine Yamal's tactical intelligence: the side that surprises Morata

Speaking in an interview with 'El Partidazo' on Cadena COPE, the Spain captain broke down the qualities that impress him most about the young international. Far from focusing solely on natural talent, Morata underlined the maturity with which Lamine approaches every fixture:

He's much smarter and much harder working than many people think. It's incredible, not just the talent he has, but the intelligence he has and how he studies matches, how he prepares for them... I think a lot of people can't imagine it. And he analyses things and he's very clever, very clever.

The Madrid-born forward went one step further and gave his unfiltered view on where Yamal stands in today's game: "To me, he's the best and I'll keep thinking that for a long time," he said, in a message that arrives just as the Ballon d'Or race enters its final stretch.

The physio anecdote: the day Yamal left Morata and Rodri stunned

Morata also revealed one of those behind-the-scenes moments from international duty that reveal the personality of the Barcelona academy graduate. It happened during a training session, when Yamal was just 16 and already showing star quality. The striker asked him why he was not running, and the teenager's response left an image that is hard to forget.

I remember one day when I think he was 16 and I said to him, 'what's up, why aren't you running?' during training, and he told me, 'no, my back hurts a little, a bit more and I'm going to the physio because I don't think I'm fine'. And I've talked about this with Rodri many times: he picked up the ball, dribbled past the whole team, put it in the top corner and then said, 'skipper, I'm off to the physio because I'm not feeling great'. That's when we said, 'bloody hell, this...'

That piece of play, a mix of cheek and outrageous talent, convinced the senior members of the dressing room that they were dealing with something special. Rodri, a Spain teammate and Manchester City reference, has often been a witness to those conversations about the young Barcelona star.

Morata on Lamine Yamal's impact on the Spanish national team

The former Atlético Madrid forward also reflected on the Yamal phenomenon from a Spanish football perspective. He feels the country was not ready to absorb the emergence of a player of his calibre at just 16 years old, dominating the European scene with astonishing ease.

Morata avoided direct comparisons with the great icons of the golden era, but made it clear that what he has witnessed with his own eyes is beyond debate: "I don't remember what Messi, Cristiano or Ronaldo the phenomenon were like when they were kids, but what I've seen with my own eyes is absolutely outrageous," he stressed.

The January Ballon d'Or: Morata's wish for Lamine Yamal

The conversation took place in the middle of the Ballon d'Or campaign, a prize that will be handed out next January in London and for which Lamine Yamal is in contention alongside other big names in European football. The Barcelona star arrives backed by an outstanding season and his key role in Spain's Euro triumph.

Morata made no secret of how happy it would make him to see the youngster at the summit. The bond between the two goes beyond the pitch: "That's why it would make me happy, because I've helped him and he recognises it every time he sees me, that he's at the very top of the world," the Madrid-born striker admitted, hinting at the mentoring relationship they share.