Lamine Yamal, the rising star of Barcelona, recently featured on DAZN's Decoded, sports streaming platform, reflecting on his journey from La Torreta to his current success with Barça. Despite the fast pace of his career, he says, «As a child, I could imagine that I could be a footballer and that I could end up playing for Barça, but never so soon. It's a dream». Lamine describes himself as a «creative, fun player» who loves to entertain, and he is proud to be a role model for young fans in both Morocco and Spain. «Since I have family in Morocco, the kids there look up to me a bit. The same thing happens in Spain, but because of my role in the Euros and because I play here. In the end, kids look up to fun, young players... and I'm very proud of that», he said. Lamine also opened up about the racism he has encountered during his career. Referring to the racist chants during a recent La Liga derby, he explained, «My mother was very worried; she thought I might be sad... but I was happy with my friends because we had won». He stressed the importance of not letting such negativity affect him, saying, «When someone insults you, and on top of that, they're angry because they had lost, I don't think you should pay attention." Social media is also a big source of sometimes racist and offensive comments. But Lamine prefers to ignore them: «I remember that the first year I did watch it, but before the Euros, when people started saying that Nico and I weren't Spanish, I stopped doing so». Lamine has set his sights high for the future: «In a couple of years, I hope to have a Champions League title as a team... I'm also very excited about the upcoming World Cup». For him, the key to success is continual growth: «Any improvement will be a very good step for my career». Born to a Moroccan father and a Guinean mother in Spain, Lamine chose to represent the Spanish national team, despite efforts by the Royal Moroccan Football Association to convince him to play for the Atlas Lions.
