Petit: Yamal is not far from the Ballon d'Or; Barcelona is a contender for the Champions League

Barcelona and Monaco will face off in the Champions League tonight, and French legend Petit, who played for both teams, talked about his old club in an interview.

This game will be very exciting for me because I played for both clubs. I grew up in Monaco and only played for Barcelona for one year, but it is always very exciting to see the clubs I used to play against each other. It will not be easy for Barcelona, ​​nor for Monaco. Barcelona is a very good team with great players and they have started very well. But Monaco has started the season well and they have great ambitions and they want to make a difference in the Champions League under the new format. They have a very good team and good players. I am very much looking forward to this game. I will commentate on the game on the radio and I am already looking forward to the start of the game.

We start with Golovin, who is behind the striker, and Embolo will definitely be the number 9. They have Aclius on the left wing and Ben Sagir on the other wing. They have very talented young players. They play very well, with good technique, speed and mobility. But sometimes they lose concentration in set pieces and within a few minutes on the pitch, when you play against a top team like Barcelona, ​​with great players like Yamal, they can kill you right away. So tonight Monaco had to be very focused from start to finish if they want to gain anything against Barcelona.

Whew, I'm not the only one. I was very impressed with Spain during the Euros. I'm glad they won the title and I think Spain fully deserved to win the Euros. They played very well as a team, with players like Yamal and Nico Williams. I also watched Yamal play against Girona last weekend and I think he's not far from the Ballon d'Or.

Not this year. This year's Ballon d'Or, I think it goes to Vinicius. But next season, yes (Yammal's). He won the Euros with Spain, he's one of the best players in this tournament and he's been improving step by step since he started last season with Barcelona. Yamal's level has improved, as has his personality and his temperament on the pitch. This kid is incredible every time he touches the ball, he's the kind of player you pay money to watch.

It's funny you asked me that because that's exactly what I said to a friend of mine two days ago. The impact he's had so far at this age is amazing. So yes, in this case, he reminds me of Messi, yes, because you can't imagine Barcelona without Yamar. He's probably the youngest player in the team, so that's amazing.

To be honest, I was surprised by the way Barcelona started this season. I was worried about their defense, but they have so many high-level weapons in attack that opponents have to defend well against Yamar, Lewandowski and others. So I was very surprised. I didn't expect Barcelona to start like this. In La Liga, they played very well and were very impressive. But the Champions League is a different competition and I'm curious to see what Barcelona can do because they faced PSG last season. I was very frustrated by Barcelona's defense then, they made a lot of mistakes, both collectively and individually. But this season, I'm curious if they can repeat the same unity, the same quality of play. It's going to be very difficult to beat Barcelona in the Champions League.

Yes, like Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern, Liverpool, Inter Milan... there are several teams that can become Champions League champions.