Two left feet: Olise vs Yamal

Who does it better?

Don’t let it be said that AverageOpposition doesn’t have its finger on the pulse. Sure, we love to dive back to yesteryear — Ronaldo, the Class of 92 — but right now there seems to be a growing argument about who is better, Olise or Yamal.

Both left-footed. Both (mostly) play on the right. Both supremely talented. Both assist kings with an eye for goal. And both are in the mix for the Ballon d’Or. As this site is about trying to prove who the big-game players are, we’ll look at that, along with the usual stats, to try and settle the argument. Remember to visit the player pages for Olise and Yamal to cut and share the stats as you want.

Not much of an intro is needed, but a brief background. Yamal’s football story has been one club, Barcelona. One of the best youth systems about. He’s long been seen as the heir to Messi’s throne and is doing a pretty good job of it, with incredible numbers for a teenager. Some also see a left-footed version of Neymar. Either way, he’s decent.

Olise is five years older and has taken a longer route to the top. Time in the Chelsea academy, a brief stop in Man City’s youth team, then Reading. It was with the Royals that he made his professional debut, before Palace took a gamble on him. Fair to say that worked out pretty well. A big money move to Bayern followed, after two and a half seasons.

2025/26, the last full season

Olise finished with more goal involvements than games. Eleven of those 34 were against the top six: 4 goals and 7 assists. His split is pretty much perfectly weighted. It didn’t matter the opponent. He was just as likely to be involved. No penalties either, in his 15 goals.

Yamal is ahead on goals scored, and in fewer games, bagging 16 league goals for comfortably the best scoring season of his career. He falls behind Olise in the bigger games, though still a decent 7 GI against the top six, all of them goals. No assists.

Take the three penalties out and the goal totals are 15 against 13, with Olise still clear on assists. You can argue the respective strengths of the Bundesliga and La Liga, but both Bayern and Barcelona have been champions for the past two years.

Per 90, Olise was at 1.33 goal involvements, Yamal at 1.06.

Winner: Olise

More goal involvements, and he did it more in the bigger games.

2024/25 to today

Handily enough, since Olise’s Bayern debut, they’ve both played 71 league games.

Same appearance count, but Yamal is ahead on minutes by around an extra nine games. Goal involvements per 90 have Olise ahead, averaging more than one a game. Both have 16 involvements against the top six. That is a big-game mentality, from both of them.

Olise’s 16 are 7 goals and 9 assists. Yamal’s 16 are 12 goals and 4 assists. If the question is who scores against the best sides, Yamal. If the question is who tilts the game, Olise, and he does it without a penalty. Yamal has four. Open-play involvements are 66 against 57.

Winner: Olise, just

The top-six column is a draw. The rate of GI puts the Frenchman just ahead.

Other Big Games

This is where the argument about the strength of the league can go out of the window. These are the big games outside the league table. Quarter-finals through the final in the Champions League and the international tournaments. Semi-finals onwards in the domestic cups. You can filter by competition on the player page.

Lamine Yamal

Michael Olise

This is where Yamal is ahead. A better record in the biggest games. A decent 9 goal involvements in 18, and he’s still a teenager.

Yamal’s four goals: the Euros semi-final against France, then Dortmund in a Champions League quarter-final, Inter in the semi, and Atlético in last season’s quarter-final. The five assists are all Copa del Rey, including two in the 2025 final against Real Madrid. He also played the Euros final, at 17, and the last two of Spain’s World Cup 2026 matches. Neither of those last two brought a goal.

Olise’s two are both from last spring. Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final, second leg, and Paris in that batshit mental semi-final, first leg. Before Bayern, one FA Cup semi-final for Palace, against Chelsea, nothing on the sheet. France’s World Cup quarter-final and semi-final, nothing either. The semi-final was against Spain. Yamal was on the other wing. Neither scored, after Olise had been picking up assists in the earlier stages (7).

Eleven appearances and no assists is a big gap. Yamal has five, and two of them were in a final against Madrid.

Winner: Yamal

Conclusion

Depends what you rank as more important. League games, or late-stage knockouts. I’d have these two pretty level. Both are still young and playing great football, so I’ll let you decide.

For consideration

Who else should be in the conversation, on end product at least? Left-footed players, wide on the right, from 2023/24 through to now. That includes Olise’s last season at Palace. Open GI excludes penalties.

Salah is still the standard, and he is not really in this argument any more. Ninety-seven games, 24 involvements against the top six, and a career before that which neither of these two is near. His Other Big Games are thinner than the league page: 4 goals in 19, two of them penalties. The 2022 Champions League final was a blank. Take the penalties out, though, and it’s Olise who leads the way in Europe’s top five leagues for goal involvements. A bit unfair on Yamal, who was 16 at the start of this run, but he’s still holding his own.

In fact, take the penalties out and the top three are Olise (81), Salah (74) and Yamal (67). Jarrod Bowen showing once again why he’s criminally underrated, with 61 in the same time. Above his fellow countrymen Saka, Foden and Palmer.

With Salah and Bowen now out of the top five leagues, the spotlight is on Yamal against Olise. We should be able to enjoy this for many years to come.