‘Best in the world’ - Bruno Guimaraes says what all Newcastle United fans are thinking about Lewis Hall

Bruno Guimaraes has described Lewis Hall as the ‘best in the world’ following a sensational display against Barcelona.

Hall was tasked with keeping Lamine Yamal quiet and shutting down Barcelona’s most threatening attacking weapon. The Magpies man stuck to his task tremendously and was easily the Man of the Match on Tuesday night - despite UEFA handing that award to Harvey Barnes instead.

Yamal was barely given a sniff by his opposite number and those frustrations at being unable to get past Hall bubbled over when the Spaniard cynically fouled the full-back as he looked to break. Bafflingly, he escaped a yellow card for that offence and thus will not be suspended for the second-leg at the Camp Nou.

The battle between Hall and Yamal was the talk of his pre-match press conference on Monday evening, with Hall admitting that he was relishing the chance to test himself against the teenager: “I think it goes without saying, he's obviously a special talent. I've seen him play in enough Champions League games, I know what he's about. For me, if I was to be selected, I'd be really looking forward to it. For me, I want to test myself against the best players in the world, so there's no better opportunity to do so than the game tomorrow.”

He added: “My relationship with him is no different to any other player. I know the moments that he can produce, I know what he's like as a player.

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“But I think they've got so many different threats in their team, so I think to single one out individually, as good of a player as he is, I think that would be not a smart thing to do. So I think for us as a team, we're just looking at their threats and how we can nullify them and what we can do to win the game.”

Bruno Guimaraes hails Lewis Hall’s performance v Barcelona

Hall’s performance on Tuesday night got the world of football talking and almost certainly, if he wasn’t already, shot him to the forefront of Thomas Tuchel’s mind ahead of his final England squad of the season. Tuchel will name his squad for England’s friendly matches against Uruguay and Japan next week and Hall, who hasn’t been included by his former manager in any senior squad during his time in charge of the Three Lions, will be desperate to be named by the German this time around.

Certainly, his performance did enough to impress his current captain at club level. Underneath a post by Hall following Tuesday night’s game, the Brazilian commented: ‘Best in the world ❤’.

Joe Willock described Hall’s performance as: ‘Absolutely outstanding’ whilst Jacob Ramsey commented: ‘So so so good’.

Keeping Yamal quiet on Tuesday night was a big moment for Hall in what will be a huge week for the defender. He will return to his former club Chelsea on Saturday evening for a Premier League match, before once again being tasked with marking Yamal next Wednesday - albeit at the Camp Nou.

He will then be waiting for news on Tuchel’s England squad before the Magpies host Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park.

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