Capello: FC Barcelona Ace Lamine Yamal 'Won't Be A Genius' Like ...

Italian football legend Fabio Capello has warned that FC Barcelona prodigy won't be a 'genius' like ... [+] the fellow La Masia graduate he is often compared to in Lionel Messi.

Italian football legend Fabio Capello warned that FC Barcelona prodigy Lamine Yamal won't be a "genius" like the fellow La Masia graduate he is often compared to in Lionel Messi.

Comparisons between Lamine and Messi picked up pace last summer when the 16-year-old destroyed Tottenham Hotspur during a short cameo at the end of the Joan Gamper Trophy match which traditionally starts Barca's season.

Many said it was the best performance in the fixture since Messi dazzled Juventus in 2005. Capello famously asked then-Barca coach Frank Rijkaard if the young Argentine, still yet to break into his first team, was available on loan only to be laughed out of town by the Dutchman.

Speaking from the Laureus Awards set to be held in Madrid on Monday evening, Capello recalled that moment.

"I discovered Messi at the Gamper and 20-25 minutes into the game I approached Rijkaard and asked him to loan him to me that season. He was a genius.

"Lamine has a lot of quality and is very interesting, but he won't be a genius. Messi, Pele and Maradona were the geniuses. [Cristiano] Ronaldo is very close there," the ex-Juve, AC Milan and Real Madrid tactician added.

"Cristiano is a great player, a great goalscorer, he won titles and the Ballon d'Or, but he hasn't been great like Messi. He's a great footballer, but he's not a genius," Capello stressed.

As an ex-leader of Los Blancos that contested the world's biggest derby a few times himself, Capello rhetorically asked: "Speaking of Spanish football and the Clasico: How is it possible that it doesn't have goal line technology?"

Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen called that fact an "embarrassment" after a goal of Lamine's was ruled out in a 3-2 defeat against their bitter rivals approaching half time.

On Monday, the Catalans' president Joan Laporta referred to the strike as the youngster's "phantom goal" and revealed that his club is even prepared to ask for a replay of the match which effectively decided the outcome of the La Liga title race given Jude Bellingham's 91st minute winner guaranteed an 11-point lead at the summit for the home team in the Bernabeu.