Lamine Yamal is one of the most talked about players in the world. Despite his age, the Barcelona star has a fame and impact that does not correspond to his 18 years. His football is captivating all over the world, which is why CBS NEWS, the American network, interviewed him to find out about a phenomenon ‘made in 304’.
The Barcelona star reviewed his sporting and personal moment in an interview on the program ‘60 Minutes‘ and even dared to talk about the future. His dream remains the same: to enjoy the sport he loves. The rest are simply consequences of being one of the best players in the world.
Your future car
“I want to feel that freedom to be able to drive on my own. My car will be the one that all my friends want and can enjoy, it won’t be a Lamborghini, with an Audi, a Mercedes or a Cupra I’m satisfied”.
How do you define your football?
“Fun, that’s the word. In the end I play for people to have fun. I’m an athlete who entertains and whose goal is not to break all the records in the world, to score a million goals, to make a million dribbles. I want to enjoy myself and for kids to want to be like me. Obviously, if I score a lot of goals, that’s even better, but I think football goes beyond that.”
Love for football
“It’s the first love of my life and it always will be, or it’s all in the end. My friends are in love with football, me, my mother, my father. It’s everything in my life and it will always be there with me.”
Best goal
“The goal I scored against France in the European Championship and I also liked the one on Wednesday against Brugge.”
Respect for rivals
“In those games (preseason) I try to go 100% but the opponent is not of the quality of our team, that’s why sometimes I try to slow down a bit, touch the ball more. In the end it’s a person, he’s playing against me and he’ll be everywhere.”
The eternal comparison with Messi
“I respect him for what he has been and what he is for football. If we meet one day on a football field, there will be that mutual respect. For me he is the best in history. We both also know that I don’t want to be Messi and Messi knows that I don’t want to be him, I want to follow my own path. I have no intention of playing like him, or wearing the number 10 that Messi wore, or anything like that.”
World Goal
“I have high expectations. It has been a long time since Spain arrived as a serious candidate to win the World Cup. I see the country excited, I am very excited and I think that this World Cup could not come at a better time, I feel important, I feel good and I really want it to come. I’m going to enjoy it very much. We will win it.”
Spain’s choice ahead of Morocco
“It was strange because the possibility of playing with Morocco was in my head. It was also when Morocco reached the semifinals of the World Cup, but at the moment of truth I never had any doubts, with all my love and respect to Morocco. I have always wanted to play in a European Championship and I think European soccer is more visible. I will always have affection for Morocco, it is also my country and it would not have been anything strange or bad to play with them, but in the end I had that handicap that Spain has played the European Championship, I grew up in Spain and I also feel that it is my country.”
A dream come true: the European Championship
“At no point in the European Championship did I put myself in the situation of ‘you’re 16 years old and you’re playing in the European Championship’. I took it as something natural, as if I was playing a tournament in the youth team. That’s why on the bus I would watch Instagram, TikTok, fall asleep… then I would get to the field, play and enjoy”.
Your ideal football model
“When I was little, I never dribbled much, I ran a lot but above all I always had a very good vision of the game. I looked a lot at Messi because he gave different passes, goal passes and that’s what I looked at. Also in passes with the outside, that I’ve seen a lot to Modric. They are things that I liked a lot and that seemed more interesting than a dribble.”
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