One goal doesn't make you the best player in the world. People lose their minds every time a 20-yard shot finds the top corner, and in the tenth minute at La Cartuja, Lamine Yamal gave them exactly that: a turn on the edge of the box, a curl off his left foot, the net bulging before anyone in Seville had settled into their seat. It was gorgeous, the kind of goal you rewatch a dozen times. It proves nothing about who's best in the world.
The case for Yamal being the best player on the planet right now is genuinely strong, and that opener against Betis is the least impressive thing on the sheet. Through this match, he was the first player from Europe's top-five leagues to hit 10 assists across all competitions this season, and the player involved in more goals than anyone else. Against Betis alone he finished with a goal and an assist, numbers that match a line no player had produced in a LaLiga game since Messi in 2017. Barcelona won it 5-2 against ten men and equalled the best start to a LaLiga season in the history of the competition, a record that had stood since Real Madrid set it in 1968-69. That's the argument. The wonder goal is just the clip that made it trend.
The skeptic has a real point, so let's have it out. You cannot hand a teenager the title of best player alive, never mind next GOAT, when his trophy cabinet sits next to men who have won everything and kept winning it. Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe have résumés Yamal hasn't started building. Crowning anyone off a single strike is the kind of thing that sounds great on a Saturday night and embarrassing by Tuesday.
That's exactly why the "after this goal" framing is silly on its own terms. Look at how fast the mood swings. Around the start of October, Yamal was the Ballon d'Or favourite ahead of Kane. Days later, after a quiet night for Spain against Croatia, he'd slipped and Kane was back in front. By the middle of the month, other readings had Mbappe pulling clear and Yamal falling out of the top three entirely. Same player, same form, but three different verdicts in two weeks, each one driven by whatever happened last. One brilliant goal against Betis doesn't settle that argument. It just resets the countdown to the next one. And the official Ballon d'Or vote had already closed in late September, so this strike can't even count toward the prize everyone's using as their scoreboard.
The goal makes for great theatre, but crown him for the season instead: he's been the most productive attacker in Europe before he's old enough to have done anything else. Established stars clutching their résumés should find that uncomfortable: the body of work is already doing the talking, and the finish against Betis was the one part of it he didn't even need.
