Kylian Mbappé has all the reasons to be threatened by Lamine Yamal. At 18, the Barcelona right-winger is doing things on the football pitch that perhaps even Mbappé couldn’t, despite being a prodigy himself.
Yamal has, within months, grown into one of the scariest forwards in La Liga and the world, at the same time that Mbappé has aimed to write his legacy at Barca’s fierce rivals, Real Madrid. Despite being eight years younger than him, Yamal finished just behind the Frenchman at fourth in the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings.
But in a recent interview, when asked about Yamal, Mbappé kept that rivalry aside and spoke like a true senior. He not only praised the teenage sensation but also asked the media and the wider football world to focus on his football,
without any unnecessary attention on the off-field controversies he has had to face so far.
“You can see [Lamine] has passion for football and that’s the only thing he mustn’t lose,” Mbappé told Jorge Valdano. “The rest is just his life. People talk about his personal life, but I think people should leave him alone. [Lamine] is a great football player, but in life he’s an 18-year-old kid. At 18 everyone makes mistakes. He’ll live his life. We should only look at what he does on the pitch. The rest isn’t important, as long as it isn’t anything serious. He’s a player with a great talent,” he added.
When Yamal turned 18 in July 2025, his lavish birthday party drew heavy criticism. A Spanish disability-rights group (ADEE) accused him of hiring people with dwarfism as entertainment, saying it perpetuated stereotypes and undermined dignity under Spain’s disability law.
Rumours also emerged that women invited were subject to appearance criteria (e.g., specific physical attributes), which some saw as objectifying. He later publicly confirmed a relationship with singer Nicki Nicole, prompting debate over their seven-year age gap.
Some of his celebrations have also come under the scanner, with Spanish media being extremely critical in some cases, drawing criticism of their own for singular targeting of the most talented young footballer in the world.
