Green shoots of hope have been few and far between for troubled Spanish champions Barcelona this season but the emergence of teenage starlet Lamine Yamal is the clearest.

The 16-year-old winger could prove crucial in the Champions League last 16 second-leg clash with Napoli on Tuesday at the club’s temporary Olympic Stadium home.

Yamal became the youngest player ever to feature in the Champions League knock-out stages as he impressed in the 1-1 first-leg draw in the south of Italy.

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring but Barcelona were pegged back by Victor Osimhen, leaving the tie finely poised.

Off the pace in La Liga and out of the Copa del Rey, a deep run in Europe is the best Barca can hope for this season.

Read the full story on the Times of Malta sports website...

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.