Lamine Yamal vows to step up his game for rest of 2026 World Cup – “I’ve never been a player who is the best in the group stage”

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·9 luglio 2026

Lamine Yamal vows to step up his game for rest of 2026 World Cup – “I’ve never been a player who is the best in the group stage”

Up until now, it’s safe to say that Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal has not had the 2026 World Cup that many expected him to have. The 18-year-old has registered only one goal and zero assists in five appearances, although the best could still be yet to come.

Lamine Yamal, whose maturity was recently praised by Spain teammate and close friend Nico Williams, has spoken on his World Cup so far during an interview with MD, and he acknowledged that coming into the tournament cold has had an impact.

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“I think I can be better. I’m very demanding of myself. It doesn’t help me with what I do. I’ve never said ‘okay, that’s enough’. Not even when I’m at Barça have I reached my goal, so now I don’t either. I had been out for almost two months and it’s not the same as when you’ve already played seven games in a row. Keep touching the ball, keep playing, keep adding minutes and, obviously, that game is going to come.”

Lamine Yamal: “I’ve never left a pitch angry”

Lamine Yamal also dismissed suggestions that his on-field frustrations have ever boiled over into anger, especially when it comes to not scoring.

“After the game against Saudi Arabia, people thought I was angry that I didn’t score. I always tell my friends that I’ve never left a pitch angry about not scoring. My goal is not to score a goal, because a goal can be scored by any player. I wanted more. I wanted to raise my level in the game, to be more decisive. It wasn’t for scoring a goal. Maybe people notice that I throw a lot of plays because I want to score, but I don’t. I play like that. I’ve always been like that. People who watch all my games at Barça know that I do sixty one-on-ones. I think that’s the part of anxiety that the coach is referring to.”

He also promised to deliver better performances for the rest of the World Cup, starting with Spain’s upcoming quarter-final showdown against Belgium.

“Always the closer the important matches get, the semi-finals or the final, the better level I serve. I’ve never been a player who is the best in the group stage. I’m calm about that. I know I have opportunities to show it and I hope that against Belgium it will be a great game for the whole team.”