The Spanish international footballer Lamine Yamal described the Olympic Games this Friday as “one of the biggest things you can play”, but he underlined his “important load of minutes” throughout the last season at FC Barcelona, which is why which has not been included in the list given by Santi Denia for Paris 2024.
“For me, the Olympic Games are one of the greatest things you can play in because in the end it’s not the same as the Champions League, which you play in every year. It’s incredible to be able to play with your national team like that, but it’s also true that I have a lot of minutes to play,” Yamal said on the programme ‘Radioestadio Noche’ on the radio station Onda Cero.
“Being honest with myself, I want to have a very long career. And for example, this year doubling if something happened to me, I would be very angry with myself and I think I have time to play it. Obviously it will depend on the coach who is there at that moment and I would have to be called up, but I will be ready the next time there is an Olympic Games,” the Barça striker said during the same interview.
Given that decision not to go to the Olympics, he noted that “Barça told me that it is my decision in the end, because I am the one who plays.” “It is true that each one recommends different things, but speaking with my family and myself I thought that the best thing was to rest and come back better for the next season,” Yamal clarified about the Parisian event.
There, Pedri González’s physical problems came to the fore after having played in the EURO and the Olympics in the summer of 2021. “There is a lot of talk about it, but I think that Pedri’s problem is not because of that, and he even says that it is not because of that. Everyone has a different body, they play some games and play more or less. And in the end it is because of me, because that is what I have thought and because of the opinions that have been given to me as well,” he insisted.
“I did think I could play so young, but never in a European Championship,” he said, referring to his precocious record. On the near horizon, the match against Georgia. “I’m really looking forward to it because you’re already in the round of 16, which is the important moment because everything we’ve done in the group stage is worthless if we’re eliminated on Sunday,” he said.
“We have that good thing, having already played against them, but we know that it will not be the same game because they will come out with much more desire,” warned Yamal about the Caucasus team. Throughout the EURO, Spain has been described as the best of the group stage and the Barça winger agreed with this. “I think so, but we have to show it now, which is the moment where you win or you go home,” he warned.
“You always have to be confident,” he said of himself. “After the match against Albania, everyone told me that I had to shoot and I’ve realised that,” he admitted with a laugh. He also spoke about his good relationship with Fermín López and Nico Williams on and off the pitch: “I’m always with them. We all get on very well, but they are the ones who are closest to my age and with whom I have the most fun.”
“In training we might try to see who scores the most goals and so on; but then on the field we try to help each other, that the other one scores above all, that the other assists, has a good time, touches the ball, etc. I think that in the end that is the most important thing, so that we both have a good time and can help the team,” he argued.
On the other hand, he analyzed the change of Hansi Flick for Xavi Hernández on the Barça bench: “The day Xavi left was very sad because he was the coach who gave me confidence and made me debut. And when Flick came, well with very excited. He is a coach who has won titles, he has won a sextet and I am looking forward to starting with him.”
Yamal also did not avoid questions about his future at the Catalan club. “I still have a contract and there is still plenty of time left. Now the important thing is to try my hand at what is now the Euro Cup, then Barça. And that’s it, we’ll see when I turn 18,” he said regarding a possible change in his contract with Barça.
Carrying the number 10 on his back is still an uncertainty. “First now there is Ansu and it is his number, we have to respect him until he has it. In case he is no longer here and Barça offers it to me, I have always said that my dream has been that and that I would never say no to that “I think no player in the world would say no,” he added.
Then he gave his opinion on Marc Guiu’s presumed goodbye to ‘Can Barça’. “People say it’s for money, but everyone makes their own decisions. He will know why he left, in the end he is the only one who knows all the conditions that have been placed on him. And I wish him all the best because he is my friend and I hope it goes very well for him,” Yamal reiterated.
Back at the Euro Cup, Yamal remembered his childhood. “Since I was very little I have been dreaming of this moment. I remember all the Euro Cups I have watched with my father lying in bed and it is a dream,” he stressed. “I’ve been dreaming and thinking about scoring a goal for Barça or the national team for so long, that in the end it’s impossible for me to regret it. The only thing that gives me hope is excitement, a great desire to continue playing,” he said.
Finally, he avoided equating himself with the Argentine Leo Messi. “He is the best player in history in my opinion. Being compared to him is something incredible, but I think it has nothing to do with it because in the end he is the best and there is no one who can compare him, and even less I just started. But I hope to have half of his career,” he concluded.