For the first month of the new European season, Flashscore awards the player of August to the mesmerising Lamine Yamal of Barcelona, who notched an average Flashscore match rating of 8.7 across his three league matches of the season to date.
At the end of last season, Lamine Yamal was on fire. From huge games in the Champions League to matches against LaLiga strugglers, he was popping up with moments of magic regularly and at times carrying Barcelona's attack on his back with vital goals and assists on the grandest of stages.
The way he has begun the 2025/26 season suggests that end-of-season form was no coincidence. Lamine Yamal has taken his game to a new level and, scarily for opposition defenders, will surely only keep getting better.
His and Barcelona's season began with a routine 3-0 win away to Mallorca in LaLiga, and he played a key part in securing three points for the reigning champions.
Barcelona's first goal of the new season predictably came from their world-class attacking duo of Lamine Yamal and Raphinha after the former's teasing cross was headed in by the unmarked Brazilian.
After going 2-0 ahead before half-time, Yamal would add gloss to the win in the 94th minute, as he cut inside in trademark fashion before curling an effort into the top corner.
You wouldn't believe this was a performance from someone still getting back to full fitness.
By his already lofty standards, Lamine Yamal was quiet in Barcelona's second LaLiga encounter of the season as the Catalan giants edged to a thrilling 3-2 win against newly promoted Levante.
However, he did play the pass into Pedri as another La Masia magician found the top corner with a bullet strike, making it two assists from two games.
The teenage sensation was back to playing a more central role in Barcelona's final match of August against Rayo Vallecano before the current international break.
After dazzling skill and quick feet on the edge of the area, Lamine Yamal was brought down inside the box, and Barcelona were awarded a penalty from the teenager's trickery.
The 18-year-old then took the resulting penalty with immense maturity, finding the bottom corner in almost nonchalant fashion.
Barcelona would end up drawing that match 1-1 to drop their first points of the 25/26 LaLiga campaign, but whilst others at the club are struggling for early-season form, Yamal remains red-hot.
View from the ground
We asked Flashscore's senior editor for Spain, Cesar Suarez, for his thoughts on Lamine Yamal's brilliant start to the season, which he has begun where he left off at the end of the 24/25 campaign.
"It seems unbelievable that someone who is barely 18 years old could be the attacking guiding light of a team like Barcelona, but that's what top-class players are like," Cesar told us.
"And Lamine Yamal is one, maybe the new special one. There isn't a single match in which he doesn't become the most disruptive player on the pitch.
"When things are going badly, the opposition is locked in, and there is no space to break down the wall, the solution is clear - pass the ball to number 10," he continued.
"And Lamine Yamal, who plays just as he used to on the streets of his beloved neighbourhood of Rocafonda, in Mataro (Barcelona), is delighted to have the ball, to dribble, to break through defences and to try his luck from the right wing, just as Leo Messi used to do in his early days.
"Every time, he dodges opponents to get inside and unleashes a curling left-footed shot to the far post. It doesn't matter that you know he's going to do it; you can't stop him.
"Sometimes, the numbers don't tell the whole story. But in this case, a quick glance at his statistics is enough to know that we are talking about the best player in LaLiga at the moment.
"He has scored two goals - one behind the top scorer - he shares the lead in assists (two) and shots (seven), and he is the best dribbler in the competition with 18, two more than his great friend Nico Williams."
Sometimes the numbers lie; in Lamine Yamal's case, they only confirm what we already know - he is one of the best attacking players in Europe.
If the start to his 25/26 campaign is anything to go by, we could be about to witness an all-timer of a season from Barcelona's young star.
