India, May 3 -- Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has made it clear that Lamine Yamal has to put in a lot of hard work to reach the level of football GOATs Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The 17-year-old Barcelona winger has taken the footballing world by storm this year and is one of the prime contenders to win the coveted Ballon d'Or. He recently produced big-match performances against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final and vs Inter Milan in the first leg of UCL semis.

He is going to play a pivotal role in Barca's final leg of the season, where they are competing for both La Liga and UCL.

Ahead of Saturday's LaLiga game against Real Valladolid, the reporter asked Hansi Flick what the next step is for Yamal.

"He knows what I want from him," Flick replied.

The German manager asserted that Yamal has the potential to be better; he just needs to put up consistent performances in big matches.

"When you are able to play at this level, you have to show it again. It's not about one game. Every player has potential to get better and this is also what he needs," he added.

Yamal often gets compared to Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest player to ever play for Barcelona. The Spaniard is touted to take Messi's rich legacy at Barcelona forward.

Flick feels that he needs to put in a lot of hard work in addition to his imperious talent to reach the level of Messi and Ronaldo.

"It's not only the talent, the genius he is, it's also hard work when you want to reach this level, [like Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Lionel] Messi, the big, big players in the past," he added.

Talking further about Yamal's incredible abilities on the field, Flick said that the Spanish youngster knows what he needs to do to achieve his full potential.

"We all have to stay calm and let's see what happens. We are really happy that he's playing with us and he's on this level at 17, it's unbelievable. We know he also has to work hard to [maintain] this and maybe to get better and better. I think also he wants this. It's not the end," he concluded.