I have experienced racism a thousand times - Lamine Yamal

In an interview with broadcaster Movistar published on 18 September 2026, Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal said he had experienced racism "a thousand times". He added that much of the behaviour comes from people who do not realise their comments or looks are offensive.

The 19-year-old has won La Liga three times since making his Barcelona debut as a 15-year-old and helped Spain to win the World Cup in July. He has been a regular first-team player for Barcelona while rising to international prominence.

The Spanish Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia, a government agency, said earlier this year that the 19-year-old and Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr were the most frequent targets of online racist abuse in Spain in the final quarter of 2025.

Yamal was among the Barcelona players targeted by racist abuse during El Clasico against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in October 2024.

"A thousand times. People are indirectly racist toward you, but maybe don't realise it," he said. "There are a lot of comments or looks that are racist and they don't even notice."

He added: "If someone calls me Black, it's not going to bother me at all, ultimately I'm Black, I'm not any other colour. "Another thing is whether it's good or bad, whether they're saying it to offend me. "But if I'm playing a match and they paid for a ticket to see me, I'm not going to get angry just because they disrespected me."

The remarks were made in the Movistar interview and further coverage is available via the latest Football Daily podcast.