He is the new comet of world football. At only 17, Lamine Yamal splashes Europe from her insolent talent under the colors of FC Barcelona and the Spanish selection. His stratospheric performance this week in the semi-final go to the Champions League against Inter Milan, punctuated by a solo goal from elsewhere who went around the planet, propelled him among the credible favorites for the next Ballon d'Or. Legends like Rio Ferdinand no longer hesitate to call it “the most exciting player to see” and a winning potential (“Ballon d'Or! Golden Ball!”). The world discovers and marvels. The world … except perhaps a part of its own country.
Because in Spain, an astonishing, even “scandalous” debate for some, agitates discussions and the media. While Yamal carries the hopes of La Roja for the next fifteen years, a significant part of public opinion and the Iberian sports press would seem to prefer … Kylian Mbappé in the race for the Supreme Individual Reward. As many observers point out, especially on social networks, a powerful pro-Real Madrid would influence media coverage, pushing to highlight the French star of the Merengue club at the expense of the national jewel evolving in Barça. Would “Madridism” take precedence over the support for Spanish talent?
Lamine Yamal snotted in her country? The incredible pro-spacted bias for the Ballon d'Or!
This supposed preference for Mbappé appears all the more surprising in view of the recent trajectories of the two players. While Lamine Yamal shines with a thousand lights and Barcelona Porte in club as in selection, Kylian Mbappé lives a more complicated first season in Madrid. His club is eliminated from the Champions League after the slap received against Arsenal and distant in La Liga, making its chances of winning the Ballon d'Or much thinner this year. Why, in this context, continue to place it in front of a Yamal in full explosion? The weight of the Real Madrid institution seems to weigh heavy.
Folie Yamal ignored: Why Madrid snubs the new Spanish nugget?
This situation highlights the sometimes irrational strength of Barça-Real rivalry which often obscures national interest. Should we see a chronic incapacity in Spain to unite behind a Barcelona player, even if he is the future of the selection? Or excessive prudence linked to the young age of Yamal, as some more measured commentators suggest who fear “sensationalism” denounced for example by the British influencer Mark Goldbridge in the face of the praises of Rio Ferdinand? Anyway, this unanimous lack of enthusiasm cuts with international admiration.
Ultimately, Spain offers a paradoxical spectacle. While Europe and the world are raising in front of the Lamine Yamal phenomenon, an influential part of its own country seems to prefer the superstar of the rival club, Kylian Mbappé, even when the sports logic of the moment pleads in favor of the young Spanish. Does this media and popular “scandal” reveals the deep fractures of Spanish football and raises questions: will Lamine Yamal first have to conquer the world before being fully recognized as a prophet in his country?
