incendiary outside, inconsequential inside and negative protagonist of the duel

Till now, Lamine Yamal’s wager of speaking extra earlier than massive dates had labored out properly. With the Nationwide Staff and with Barça. Nevertheless, this Sunday’s El Clásico left a lesson for him: it isn’t suitable to be incendiary off the sector and to be inconsequential on it.

The Bernabéu grew to become a powder keg of feelings, however not for the explanations Lamine imagined. The younger culé star arrived on the white coliseum amid media din, wearing provocation and loaded with difficult messages that lit up the run-up to a very powerful match of the 12 months.

However when the highlight stopped being these of the cameras and have become these of the stadium, Lamine was utterly disconnected, invisible on the sector of play and have become the nice unfavorable protagonist of a Clásico that ended with a 2-1 victory for Actual Madrid.

The controversy had begun days earlier than the assembly. In a Kings League broadcast with streamer Ibai Llanos and former Barcelona participant Gerard Piqué, Lamine threw a poisoned dart on the everlasting rival: “They steal, they complain…”, he declared with amusing when requested if the rival crew of his new franchise within the competitors appeared like Madrid.

Lamine was not glad with that. Just a few hours earlier than the sport, he uploaded a motivational video to his social networks with a transparent and difficult message: “I left worry in Mataró a very long time in the past.”

As well as, he printed a picture of himself celebrating a aim towards Madrid on the Bernabéu, with the white followers shouting at him from the stands within the foreground. The message was apparent: he arrived with out complexes, able to repeat the historical past of dominance that Barcelona had imposed the earlier season, with 4 consecutive victories within the Classics.

Within the Madrid locker room, the fatigue with the younger footballer’s perspective was already evident. Gamers like Carvajal and Vinicius have been very conscious of every of his statements and provocations, and the Bernabéu stands had additionally taken word. From the warm-up, when his title was introduced over the general public tackle system, your entire stadium booed him with an depth that marked the environment of the match.

If the earlier phrases have been incendiary, the efficiency on the sector was the alternative: lukewarm, erratic and utterly inconsequential. Lamine, who had scored three targets and supplied two assists in his six earlier Clásicos, couldn’t at any time surpass Álvaro Carreras, the Actual Madrid full-back who nullified him with authority in the course of the 90 minutes.

The younger winger barely accomplished 4 dribbles out of eight tried, misplaced 22 possessions and completed with solely two photographs – none on aim –, one in every of them a thread that narrowly missed within the first half.

The statistics don’t lie: Lamine had 79 touches on the ball, completed 44 of 55 passes (80%), but his offensive contribution was minimal. With only 0.02 expected goals (xG) and 0.37 expected assists (xA), the culé attacker was far from being the differential player that was expected.

Vinicius, one of those who would later reproach him for his statements, even snapped at him during the match: “Only back passes, only back passes,” as captured by DAZN cameras.

Marcus Sorg, Barcelona’s second coach who replaced the suspended Hansi Flick on the bench, tried to justify the player’s poor performance: “It could be that the environment affected him. Maybe a little. Because he is learning to deal with the crowd, the whistles… It wasn’t very easy for him.”

Sorg also recalled that Lamine is coming back from a pubic injury and needs to regain rhythm: “After the injury, he needs rhythm, games… It’s normal. He’s 18 years old and we have to give him time and help him.”

Carvajal and the reckoning

If the match was tough for Lamine, the ending was devastating. At the whistle, with Real Madrid celebrating a vital victory that put them five points ahead in the table, Carvajal went straight to look for the young Barcelona player.

The white captain, who had just entered the field to replace Valverde, made a gesture with his hand and blurted out: “You talk a lot.” Lamine’s response was angry: “Let’s talk inside,” he replied, as if challenging him to a fight off the court.

The scene unleashed chaos. Camavinga had to separate Lamine, while Casadó came to his teammate’s defense and Courtois joined the Madrid side. Vinicius, who had been substituted and was on the bench, also came forward to launch attacks. The brawl was such that a police officer intervened to separate the players and prevent the situation from escalating.

Frenkie de Jong, captain of Barcelona in the absence of other leaders, came out in defense of his teammate in the mixed zone: “I saw when the referee blew the final whistle that there were Real Madrid players running towards Lamine. It was all a bit exaggerated, but it’s their thing and they will know why they did it.”

De Jong also directly criticized Carvajal: “You can talk to him privately if you know him and not make gestures. Or call him on the phone.” Regarding Lamine’s words in the Kings League, De Jong minimized: “He has not said that he steals, not directly. He is in the Kings League, they believe him something, and I have not heard him saying that. It is very exaggerated and I can understand that they are angry, but it was not that big.”

The Bellingham Message

Real Madrid’s response was not limited to the field. Jude Bellingham, author of a goal and an assist and the great figure of the game, launched a dart through his social networks. Along with a photo of him celebrating the 2-1 goal, he wrote: “Talking is cheap. Madrid always loves me.”

In addition, he added the Elvis Presley song ‘A Little Less Conversation’ to his Instagram stories, in a clear ironic reference to Lamine’s words in the previous one. The Englishman, who had been decisive both in attack and in tactical reading, did not need more words to settle the debate: football is played on the grass, and Madrid had been superior there.

Aurelién Tchouaméni, for his part, showed a more relaxed attitude: “I like that, at the end of the game we saw a little bit of things between the players, we helped each other compete. I like it, if Lamine wants to talk there is no problem, the game is played on the field and we won.”

Lamine Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, also wanted to leave his mark on social media after the incident. He published a photo of his son in the Kings League accompanied by a phrase: “Thank goodness he’s only 18 years old. See you in Barcelona.”

A message that tried to downplay the importance of what happened but, at the same time, fueled controversy ahead of the next Clásico at the Camp Nou. Yamal’s numbers at the Santiago Bernabéu are devastating: just one goal in his visits to the white coliseum, a far cry from the performance he displays in other venues.

A talent in construction

Lamine Yamal is, without a doubt, one of the brightest talents in European football. At just 18 years old, he has accumulated experiences that most footballers do not experience in their entire career.

However, this Clásico left a clear lesson: words must be backed by performance on the field, and the pressure of a hostile stadium can be as decisive as technical quality.

Sorg insisted that the player is in a learning process: “They played two against one against him, but it is normal. He is young, he has to improve and we will help him.”

Carreras’ mark and the constant support of the white midfielders completely nullified the culé winger, who found no space or rhythm throughout the match.

Barcelona, ​​which was defeated 2-1 with goals from Mbappé and Bellingham, moves five points away from the lead and sees Real Madrid break a streak of four consecutive lost Clásicos. The next chapter of this story will be written in Barcelona, ​​where Lamine will have the opportunity to vindicate himself.

But until then, the memory of this October 26 will remain as a lesson in humility for a talent who, despite his immense quality, still has a lot to learn about the weight of words and the importance of speaking with his feet on the field of play.