Barcelona player Lamine Yamal has shared that he has faced racism "a thousand times." He said many people make hurtful comments or act in racist ways without even knowing it.
According to BBC Sport on Friday, the 19-year-old spoke about this in an interview with former Argentina player Jorge Valdano for Spanish broadcaster Movistar.
"A thousand times," Yamal said when asked if he had faced racism directly.
"People are indirectly racist towards you, but maybe don’t realise it. There are a lot of comments or looks that are racist and they don’t even notice."
Yamal has dealt with racist abuse as he has quickly risen to fame with Barcelona and the Spain national team. In October 2024, videos showed him, Raphinha, and Ansu Fati being racially abused during Barcelona’s El Clásico against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Talking about these incidents, Yamal said he can tell the difference between comments about his race and words meant to hurt him.
"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. "Another thing is whether it’s good or bad, whether they’re saying it to offend me."
Yamal also mentioned that he does not let insults from fans distract him while he is on the field.
"But if I’m playing a match and they paid for a ticket to see me, I’m not going to get angry just because they disrespected me," he said.
The Spanish Observatory on Racism and Xenophobia found that Yamal and Real Madrid player Vinícius Jr were among the most common targets of online racist abuse in Spain during the last part of 2025.
Recently, the Spanish government agency noted that racist and Islamophobic messages aimed at Yamal were also spotted during the 2026 World Cup.
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