Lamine Yamal became Barcelona‘s savior against Newcastle United in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16. With a team that arrived at St. James’ Park physically affected, a 1-1 draw felt like a victory for Hansi Flick’s side.
The star of the show was the 18-year-old Barça star, who scored from the penalty spot after Dani Olmo was fouled in the last minute of the game (90+6′). This not only demonstrated Lamine’s impact, but also his ability to take penalties.
How many penalties has Yamal taken?
On Tuesday, the young player faced a score that seemed to condemn them to another defeat. However, at a key moment in the final minutes of the game, with the ball and a penalty in front of him, he did not fail and avoided another comeback at Spotify Camp Nou on Wednesday 18.
The truth is that Lamine has just saved Barça with his great goal at San Mamés against Athletic Club, and in the previous game he scored his first hat trick against Villarreal. Now, with his penalty kick, he reveals a pattern that has been repeating itself.
Yamal has begun to take on the responsibility of taking penalties, both with Barcelona and with the Spanish national team, especially in the 2025-26 season.
Excluding penalty shootouts , wearing his country’s colors, he did not miss his shot against the France national football team in the semifinal of the 2025 UEFA Nations League Finals, where he also scored twice.
Similarly, with Barcelona, he has only missed one penalty. Recently, the ball hit the post when he tried to score against Girona FC in LaLiga 2025-26 against goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga on February 16, so the wound was still fresh.
Last year, he beat Augusto Batalla in goal against Rayo Vallecano in a LaLiga match on August 31 and Álvaro Valles against Real Betis on December 6.
In the Champions League, he scored against Konstantinos Tzolakis’ Olympiacos FC on October 21, 2025, and his new goal against Newcastle, according to Transfermarkt and Statmuse.
In addition, with the Spain national under-17 football team, Lamine took and scored three penalties in 2022 and 2023: on October 16, 2022, against the Hungary national under-17 football team in a friendly match (goal against Áron Yaakobishvili), on February 10, 2023 against the Netherlands national under-17 football team in the Algarve Tournament (goal against Kiyani Zeggen) and on May 21, 2023 against the Serbia national under-17 football team in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, where he also converted from the penalty spot against goalkeeper Zan Trivunevi.
Now, Yamal has scored 20 goals and provided 15 assists this season, and in six Champions League matches, he has scored four goals and provided three assists.
Meanwhile, Barcelona’s next match will be against Sevilla FC at Spotify Camp Nou in LaLiga on March 15.
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