“He has everything to succeed.... his potential is limitless" - LaLiga star heaps praise on Barcelona star Lamine Yamal

Valencia defender Jose Gaya has heaped praise on Lamine Yamal ahead of the team's LaLiga clash against Barcelona on Sunday, January 26. The two teams will face off at the Lluis Companys, where relegation-threatened Valencia will be hoping to pull off an upset.

With Yamal likely to play on his favored right-wing and Gaya captaining Valencia from left-back, it will be a direct battle between the two players. However, Gaya is looking forward to the challenge. The 29-year-old admitted that Yamal is one of the best players in the world, stating (via Barca Universal):

"I do not know if he is the best, but he is certainly one of the best. I remember seeing him for the first time with the national team when he was 16 years old, and I was stunned. I said to myself, ‘he is going to be a player who will mark an era,’ and I believe he will do that."

“He has everything to succeed. It is true that he is very young, but his potential is limitless. If he is not the best, he is one of the best, and it is always nice to face players like him.”

Gaya discussed some technical details about facing the 17-year-old. He added:

“He is hard to defend because you do not know what is better: whether to press him quickly or leave him space. If you press him quickly, he has the ability to go both ways, and if you back off, he can create tricky situations because he has a lot of speed."

“You have to defend aggressively and make him run backwards. Players like him prefer running forward rather than backward, and that is the key.”

Lamine Yamal has been instrumental in creating and scoring goals for Barcelona this season. The winger has picked up an impressive nine goals and 14 assists in just 26 games this season, and he will look to add to that number in the coming weeks.

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"We are going to face the best Barcelona" - Valencia captain Jose Gaya opens up on the challenge of facing Barca

Valencia captain Jose Gaya also talked about how impressive Barcelona have been this season. Los Ches are currently 19th in the league table and will be massive underdogs against the high-flying Blaugrana, who are third in LaLiga.

Barca are coming off an incredible 5-4 comeback win against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League, which Gaya admitted that he watched. He said (via Barca Universal):

“We are going to face the best Barcelona. I watched the (Champions League) match, and it was a recital of how they believe in themselves. It is a fantastic team that is playing very well, with incredible players, and they have adapted to what their coach asks of them: to be very aggressive and move forward."

Barcelona have not had the best of times in LaLiga recently. They have picked up just one win in their last eight league games, despite impressing in other competitions. However, they will look to turn their poor domestic form around against Valencia.