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It is a piece of skill Lamine Yamal is making an art form — and yet another reason the 17-year-old is one of the most exciting players in world football.
The Barcelona forward has used the ‘trivela’ — an outside-of-the-boot shot or pass — to provide three of his nine assists in La Liga this season.
Trivela is a Portuguese word, and the story behind the action getting that name remains unclear.
In Brazil, where Portuguese is the official language, such strikes are named ‘Tres Dedos’, as they are produced by using the three outer toes of your foot.
The most established theory to explain the trivela refers to a physics phenomenon named trivelocidade, as Professor Salvato Trigo, from Fernando Pessoa University in the Portuguese city of Porto, explained in 2018.
Legendary Brazil left-back Roberto Carlos, former Portugal forward Ricardo Quaresma, Real Madrid’s Luka Modric and the 1970 World Cup-winning Brazilian attacking midfielder Rivellino were masters of the trivela with their free kicks, shots and passes in the past.
Today, it is becoming Yamal’s trademark.
Before any game, Yamal likes to go on YouTube and search for videos of different players’ highlights such as Neymar, his favourite player growing up, or another Barca predecessor, Lionel Messi. But the trivela has come more naturally.
All three of his trivela assists this season vouch for that, as they all came in situations where defenders could not expect that pass.
This is the position where he received the ball against Villarreal, when he spotted Raphinha getting ready for a run behind the defensive line.
This is the pass he then made.
… only for goalkeeper Orjan Nyland to produce a save at full stretch.
Lamine must keep using the trivela because he’s proved it’s effective, it’s far from a luxury touch,” says Font. “A cross like this is extremely useful to send the ball past the first defenders in position to intercept the pass, as the curve makes it tougher. Lamine is going to keep trying new things because his technical skill set allows him to do things others can’t think about.”
His creativity, altogether with how his physicality evolves, will keep shaping Lamine as a player.
After his latest trivela masterclass against Mallorca, Yamal was interviewed by Catalan television station TV3.
“Is there any way to do those passes you do in video games?,” one journalist asked.
Yamal, an avid gamer, laughed as he replied: “Yes, you can, to be fair. You need to press the L2 button and then pass, go and try it! I think it is a pass that I can do very well, I am confident with it, so I will not stop trying.”
The morning after the game, the city of Barcelona woke up with Yamal’s pass immortalised on its streets.
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