Lamine Yamal’s honest admission after his first hat trick with Barcelona: ‘I wasn’t happy before’
Lamine Yamal continues to make history with records that will be hard to match. Almost everything he does feels new, because he is just 18 years old. His first hat-trick for Barcelona was one of those moments.
In a match against Villarreal that promised to be difficult, Barcelona solved the problem with a 4-1 victory. The standout player of the day was the winger, who scored three goals to keep his team in first place in La Liga.
Yamal showed his emotion after the match. The young player told Movistar that his injury had stopped him from enjoying his football: “People want you at 16 years old to score 100 goals. I wasn’t fine. It was a mix of everything, the groin pain. I wasn’t happy before, it showed. Since last week I have felt better, I smile while I play. I’m happy when I’m playing.”
Yamal on staying longer on the field
A long run of matches awaits Barcelona, with Atletico Madrid already waiting for the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal where Hansi Flick’s side need to overturn a four-goal deficit.
For that tie Barcelona must produce a perfect performance to reach the final. To help with that, it was important to close the victory quickly so Flick could rest some players.
Yamal did not want to leave the field until he completed his hat-trick, as he told journalists after the game: “I told Flick to wait to substitute me out for the goal, the third one. Not the team’s third goal, luckily it was mine.”
Yamal’s emotional gift
Every player who scores a hat-trick receives the match ball from the referee. For players who have many, the gesture may not be very emotional, but for Yamal the ball was special. He gave the gift to his mother, as shown by Fabrizio Romano on social media.