Lamine Yamal is not shrinking from the demands at Camp Nou. The 19-year-old has thrown his weight behind Barcelona’s push for the Champions League and told Universo Valdano on Movistar+ that the obsession inside the club is healthy rather than a burden.
“It’s good to be obsessed with the Champions League; it would be very cowardly of us not to believe that we’re going to go for it this year,” Yamal said in the interview.
He said the dressing room has caught the same mood.
“I see it as a good thing; it makes me happy that people come into the dressing room thinking we can win it.”
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Yamal did not want that ambition confined to Europe. He told the programme Barcelona should be pushing for La Liga in parallel and have the squad to fight on both fronts.
Six wins from six
The confidence has numbers behind it. Barcelona have opened 2026-27 with six wins from six across all competitions, and Yamal has driven much of it. He scored twice at the Ciutat de València on Sunday as Hansi Flick’s side beat Levante 4-2, his second brace in Barcelona’s opening five La Liga fixtures. Only Lionel Messi has managed more this century, with three braces in the first five games of 2012-13.
Four days earlier, Yamal curled a 77th-minute free kick past the Feyenoord wall as Barcelona opened their Champions League league phase with a 5-1 win at Camp Nou. Raphinha scored twice on the same night.
Last spring’s quarter-final blow
Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals last season by Atlético Madrid, losing 3-2 on aggregate despite winning the second leg 2-1 in the Spanish capital.
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Yamal has framed the 2026 Ballon d’Or as a two-man race between himself and Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé, and said he believes he deserves it on the strength of what he has already won.
Barcelona’s next Champions League fixture is away at Galatasaray on 13 October.
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