Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal has said he has experienced racism “a thousand times” during his life and career, arguing that much of it comes through unconscious bias and indirect discrimination rather than open hostility.
Speaking to former player and journalist Jorge Valdano on Movistar Plus, the 19-year-old said racist behaviour is often embedded in comments and gestures that people making them may fail to recognise. “People are indirectly racist toward you, but maybe don't realise it,” Yamal said. “There are a lot of comments or looks that are racist and they don't even notice.”
The interview, published 18 September 2026, put one of football’s most prominent young players at the centre of a continuing debate over racism in Spanish football. Yamal has encountered racism regularly during his rise to prominence, despite success that has made him a central figure for Barcelona and Spain.
He helped Spain win the World Cup in July and has won La Liga three times since making his Barcelona debut as a 15-year-old. Yamal grew up in Rocafonda, a working-class district of the Catalan city of Mataró near Barcelona.
Yamal also drew a distinction between a word and the hostility behind its use. “If someone calls me Black, it's not going to bother me at all, ultimately I'm Black, I'm not any other colour,” he said.
Expanding on that point, he said: “That this person calls me black won't bother me. I am black, I'm not some color. But what's different is how he said it, because he said it very derogatory.”
His experience has included abuse at matches. Yamal was among Barcelona players targeted by racist abuse during El Clásico against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu in October 2024. During that match, a spectator insulted Yamal and his Barcelona teammate Raphinha.
LaLiga reported the incidents from the October 2024 Clásico to the national police. The brief does not say what followed that report.
The problem has also followed Yamal online. The Spanish Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia identified Yamal and Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr as the most frequent targets of online racist abuse in Spain in the final quarter of 2025.
Yamal’s remarks point to the cumulative nature of the racism he describes. His account centres on repeated slights, remarks and looks, as well as the more visible abuse recorded at major matches and online. The interview did not set out specific measures he believes would address unconscious racism in football, nor did it describe the full range of incidents he has experienced.
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