FC Barcelona have always had a proud tradition of sorts when it comes to being a frustrating opponent for Real Madrid. Both the Clasico rivals can face almost any team in the world without their nerves showing, but El Clasico itself is a different animal altogether. Unfortunately for Real Madrid, Barcelona hardly made it seem fair this time around.
Despite the fact that this game was played at the new Santiago Bernabeu, with the roof closed and stars like Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe, and Jude Bellingham all lined up to represent Real Madrid in front of their home fans, Los Blancos ultimately failed to score a single goal against Barcelona. Instead, they ended up conceding four from their eternal rivals.
While almost every single Barça player was crucial in helping achieve this victory, there are few players who can claim to have a bigger influence on this rather young team than Lamine Yamal himself. The 17-year-old La Masia prodigy who continues to dominate world football, made sure to maintain those high standards of his even against Real Madrid.
The third goal from Barcelona came through Yamal himself, and it was a phenomenal finish from the La Masia talent. Following the game, moreover, he even spoke about various topics related to the 4-0 win over Real Madrid, as highlighted by Mundo Deportivo.
Interestingly, Yamal stated that he was sure that he would be scoring in this game, and he eventually did just that. Moreover, he had even told his friends that he would do a rather special celebration if he ended up finding the back of the net:
“I was sure I’d score, no matter what… I hadn’t scored in a while, and I told them that if I did, I’d show off my braces.”
Yamal even went on to say that when Barcelona were two goals up, both he and his teammates ‘wanted more’ and did not want to stop scoring at any point of the game:
“It’s amazing when you hear your fans louder than the rivals in their own stadium. We wanted more—after two goals, we wanted a third and then a fourth. But it’s just three points, and we have to keep moving forward.“
Lastly, the Barcelona prodigy decided to also take the time to address the people who doubted his team this season. Instead of letting them get away, he highlighted just how confident he is about his own side’s abilities:
“At the start of the season, people said we were only beating mid-table teams, but now we’ve defeated two of the world’s best within a week. We showed against both Bayern and Madrid that we’re ready for anything.”
Up next for Barcelona is a local derby against Espanyol, a clash that almost always promises to be a difficult one for La Blaugrana irrespective of the quality that the Catalan giants possess. As the team now prepares for that, the last two victories over Real Madrid and Bayern Munich will surely give them a huge boost.