They were born just one year apart, right before the “Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi” era took off in La Liga. Now, teenage stars Endrick and Lamine Yamal are about to start another feud that will last forever.

When Endrick turns 18 in July, he will have scored his first two goals for Brazil. One was at the Santiago Bernabeu, and the other was at Wembley. Lamal’s birthday is a week before Endrick’s. A record-setting 14 games for Barcelona and 3 for Spain, he has become the most important player for both teams in record time.

Lamal was born right after the 2006–2007 season, and Endrick was born just before it. The league was won by Real Madrid. Messi was already 19 years old and playing for Barcelona. He had scored 14 goals in all competitions, but he had to wait another two years to win his first Ballon d’Or. Ronaldo was still with Manchester United, and he wouldn’t join Real Madrid until 2008.

Even though their competition in the past will never be topped, seeing Yamal and Endrick play against each other at the Bernabeu was a lot like seeing Messi and Ronaldo play for their respective teams. It was a taste of what was to come.

Signed with Real Madrid from Palmeiras in December 2022, when he was still 16 years old. The price will go up from 35 million euros to 60 million euros if he does well in Spain, which everyone thinks he will.

Juni Calafat, Real Madrid’s top scout in South America, has been in touch with the player nonstop since he was signed. And many times over dinner at the player’s house, it has been made clear to him what it means to sign with Real Madrid. He’s all set.

He has a lot of trust. He said at Brazil’s dinner the night before the game that he thought he would score his first goal at the Bernabeu in the friendly the next night, and that’s exactly what happened.

He can already match up physically with other center-backs and even scare them. He is angry, as shown by the fact that he kicked Marc Cucurella off the ball. This needs to be tamed, but Madrid won’t want to make him too soft. 

He will have to keep up his mean streak to beat both his opponents and the people who play at home. Next season, Real Madrid will have three open spots in their forward line. He and Rodrygo, a player on his international team, are competing for the last spot, along with Vinicius and Kylian Mbappe.

The first thing Endrick did after coming off the bench at the Bernabeu was to play Vinicius in. Don’t be surprised if he beats Rodrygo to become Real Madrid’s third player in their new three-pronged attack.

Yamine doesn’t have any trouble with other people trying to get the same spots. He is the future of Barcelona, but he is also a part of the present.

It’s only been five months since Robert Lewandowski scolded him. That time went by so fast. There is still a good chance that Yamine will glare at Lewandowski for not giving him the ball.

I think this kid is amazing. “Every time he touches the ball, he hurts the other team,” said Robin Le Normand, a defender for Spain after their 3–3 draw with Brazil on Tuesday.

This summer, he has become Spain’s best hope in Germany. He was asked last week how he deals with the fact that he skipped the under-19 and under-21 stages of his international career. He said, “I try not to think about it too much because then you start to worry about things.”

He is letting other people think about things right now. Because Barcelona needs him so much, they don’t want him to get burned out like Pedri did, who played in over 70 games in his first season and was chosen for both the Euros and the Olympics.

When Yamal was hit in the first minute of the game against Brazil, you could hear him quickly taking a deep breath. He got up and played on, though, and there don’t seem to be any questions about his mental strength either. He has talked about his time at Barcelona: “I know the whole stadium is waiting to see what I can do.”

There are things that make him look young. Because he is too young to drive yet, his cousin still takes him to training.  

He also goes to classes every afternoon at La Masia because the club wants him to show other young stars how to finish school. But when he’s on the field, he acts much older than his years.

Both Yamal and Endrick seem a little too naive these days. Endrick has said that he wants to win 10 Ligas and five Champions Leagues at Real Madrid. When asked recently what goal he really wanted to score, the first player said, “The winner against PSG in the Champions League quarterfinals.”

They are not afraid of each other and are ready to start a rivalry that will shape the futures of Spain’s two biggest teams. For a long time, Madrid and Barcelona were all about Ronaldo and Messi. It will be Endrick vs. Yamine next season.