In an extremely candid interview with The Guardian, FC Barcelona and Spain teenage superstar Lamine Yamal shed light on his roots and upbringing, while also giving an insight into what makes him such a top athlete despite his young age.
Only 19 years old, the Barcelona wonderkid has won the Euro 2024 and the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Spain, while also lifting multiple La Liga titles with Barcelona.
It has put him in the picture for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, after he finished second in the rankings last year behind Ousmane Dembele.
Lamine on his Ballon d’Or chances
Lamine faces competition from other top stars like Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane for the Golden Orb, but the youngster appeared very confident of his chances.
“Being completely honest, it’s not just this year I’ve been at a Ballon d’Or [winning] level, but longer. Everyone knows that; they know I am differential,” he said.
Continuing, he added: “I think people think: ‘Lamine is 19, he’ll win it at some point, so let’s say someone else …’ I just have to win, win, win, and there will be a time when there’s no debate.
“There will be people who love me, people who say: ‘What a pain in the arse he is’, and that’s fine.”
On tasting success so early
Despite having already won so much in his career at the age of 19, Lamine insists that he is very hungry and motivated to add more silverware to his cabinet.
“After the final, my family were so happy,” Lamine said. “The problem with that is they don’t know what it is to lose. I go to the Euros, I win it. I go to the World Cup, I win it. It seems easy.
"There was a moment I thought: ‘When I don’t win they’re going to think I’m terrible.’ I told them: ‘Calm down, there will be plenty more World Cups.’ I have to play more and win more.”
Further underlining his hunger and desire to succeed, Lamine elaborated: “At the Euros I didn’t even know who I was, where I was, the significance of it all. I could sit an exam and the next day play France because I wasn’t really conscious of the difference.
“I won it and said: ‘Well, that’s good, but a World Cup is better, no?’ Now I know what a Euros means. I know what a World Cup is, although I think you truly realise when you go to the next one and lose.
“There’s a lot still to do. Why not be the best national team in history? The best Barcelona? And if there’s anyone in the world who doesn’t ‘rest’ on success, who doesn’t have normal standards, it’s me.”
On his origins, rapid rise, and pressure
For someone to have made his first-team debut for Barcelona at 15, gone to the Euros at 16, and the World Cup at 18, and then having won it all, Lamine remains extremely mature and has not let the fame and wealth have an adverse affect.
“It depends how you’re brought up. I will never say: ‘Who are you? I won the World Cup.’ Only stupid people would do that. I know that football is 0.000001% of life,” he said.
There have been times when he has been accused of talking too much or showing some attitude, with his posts on social media, but for Lamine, it is just ‘fun’.
“Well, as long as I am winning … sport is serious but I want a show, some fun.”
On whether those watching from the outside know the real Lamine, he replied: “Only my inner circle know what I think, the way I am. People don’t have a clue – not a clue, Not. A. Clue.”
“I grew up in a barrio where the less people know about you, the happier you are, the quieter your life. Obviously I like a footballer’s life, but I would also like to live in peace, a normal life. The nearest I can get is for people to know as little as possible.
“If I post something, I need to know I can handle what comes. At first it annoyed me to read things because I didn’t understand it. My mum would read something, call me and say: ‘Son, what’s this?!’ That affected me but it doesn’t affect me now.”
Regarding the pressure that comes with his new-found fame and status, Lamine elaborated: “A bad game from Lamine equals 400 bad games for anyone else. I’ll produce a nine out of 10 and people will say seven out of 10.”
“There are times I enjoy the pressure. I enjoy going on to the pitch, when a lot is expected. Then there’s a different kind of pressure which is nothing to do with what people say, nothing to do with football; it’s life. I don’t feel pressure in football.”
Further opening up on how his family keeps him focused, he added: “I will never lie at home thinking: ‘I played really badly, I didn’t win the Ballon d’Or, we didn’t win the league.’ It’s responsibility: I have my family.
“I’ve suffered, struggled with them, we’ve been through bad times and now that we’re enjoying life, I have to continue.
“If I have played football all these years, it’s because I love football but also for them. I know life is much longer. I have to look after my family, my little brother.”
“In football there’s no fear,” he further noted. “I saw my mum struggle so that I could play football. I’ve seen my dad go round the streets collecting scrap metal so I could eat. That’s fear.
“Now if I had a son, I could look after him. If my mum or my dad need anything, I can help. I don’t have that fear now and that’s the only fear I could have in life.”
On Barcelona and love for football
Discussing his time at La Masia and how it helped shame the Lamine of today, the teenage winger stated:
“Barcelona give you good things but you also need something of your own, your roots. Barcelona gave me control, understanding, IQ. In the park there’s no IQ: you go at your opponent, then go back again.
“I have that. If I hadn’t come from where I came from and been at La Masia, I wouldn’t have come out like this.
Concluding, Lamine summed up what football meant for him, saying: “The thing is, I love football. I don’t play for money, I play because I love it. Players who obsess over goals or assists don’t enjoy it.
“I play for the fun: to dribble, to play one touch, two touches, to make a teammate who hasn’t scored score. For the fans’ happiness. To hear the olés. I play for that.
“I enjoy it. I get home and I say: ‘I’ve had a great time.’ If every player did that, we would enjoy it much more.”
Remembering the moments at the World Cup when the fans got excited to see him and how it made him feel, he added:
“At the World Cup, you heard it, felt it: when I got the ball, they would stand up, one after the other, all along the row. Like they were saying: ‘Let’s see if this guy is what they say he is.’
“At the Camp Nou, people know I’m going to go at someone. That feeling, that expectation, is something you can only experience in sport, being a player like me.
“It’s like there’s something inside that makes you feel more powerful than anyone and I hope it’s there until the day I retire. There’s a surge around you and you feel like Superman, you feel like Spiderman. You feel spectacular.”
- Michel Durant9
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