Robert Lewandowski on Lamine Yamal's World Cup Performance

Robert Lewandowski has seen Lamine Yamal at a level the rest of the world, he insists, has not yet witnessed on the biggest stage.

The former Barcelona striker, now beginning a new adventure in MLS with Chicago Fire, believes the teenage winger’s World Cup in the United States only hinted at what is coming.

“That wasn’t the best Lamine”

Asked by ESPN if fans had seen Yamal at his absolute peak during the tournament, Lewandowski was blunt.

“Honestly, no, we didn't [see his best this tournament],” he said, before pointing back not to last season, but to two years ago as the benchmark. In his eyes, that earlier version of Yamal remains the gold standard.

The explanation is simple, and brutal in elite football terms. Yamal arrived at the World Cup undercooked. He had been out injured and had not played for around eight weeks. Then, with barely any time to train properly, he was dropped straight into the intensity of a World Cup schedule, rolling from game to game.

That sort of rhythm usually exposes young players. Yamal survived it. More than that, he impressed.

Lewandowski highlighted how Spain’s dressing room wrapped itself around the youngster, and how the teenager responded in kind. The relationship, he felt, worked both ways: the Spain squad lifted Yamal, and Yamal, even short of full sharpness, lifted Spain.

“I think that this cooperation was perfect,” Lewandowski said. For a 17-year-old winger, “perfect” from a striker of his stature is not a word handed out lightly.

Backing Spain over Messi

Lewandowski watched the World Cup from afar. Poland did not qualify, leaving their captain in the unfamiliar role of spectator. When the final arrived – Spain against Argentina – his choice of allegiance was clear.

He sided with La Roja.

The bond with his former Barcelona team-mates tipped the balance. “I know a lot of players from Spain and I spent so much time in Barcelona with them, so I supported them a lot,” he explained.

On the other side stood Lionel Messi and Argentina. Lewandowski knows Messi personally, but he pointed out that the Argentine captain already has a World Cup winner’s medal. Spain’s youth and hunger, coupled with his ties to the Barça core, swayed him.

“If you play with them, you spend a lot of time together then it's easier to support this team,” he said. Watching from a distance, he felt Spain were “ready to win the World Cup” and underlined their age profile: very young, with the future stretching out in front of them.

Yamal sits at the heart of that future.

Different paths, same ambition

Now the World Cup is over, the two former Camp Nou team-mates head into contrasting chapters.

Yamal returns to Barcelona with a clear mission: rebuild his body, regain full fitness and rediscover the explosive version of himself Lewandowski remembers from two seasons ago. With Spain’s youngsters gathering momentum and Barça in transition, his next step at club level will be scrutinised from every angle.

Lewandowski, meanwhile, has crossed the Atlantic. The 35-year-old has joined Chicago Fire and has already made his debut against Inter Miami CF, stepping straight into the spotlight of a league increasingly shaped by global stars.

He has not gone there to wind down.

“I'm ready to do this and try to help my team-mates and new club take the next step, and also to win some titles,” he said, setting the bar high from day one.

One is a teenager still climbing towards his ceiling. The other is a veteran refusing to lower his own. Both, in very different settings, now have to prove that the best version described by Lewandowski is not a memory, but a warning of what is still to come.