Heavy is the head that wears the crown but Lamine Yamal is willing to wear it. Willing? He wants to, so there he was on Saturday night conducting his own coronation. With the last touch of Barcelona’s first game of 2025-26, their new No 10 – the player handed a six-year contract and the shirt Ladislao Kubala, Luis Suárez, Diego Maradona, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi wore, the kid Spain coach Luis del la Fuente claimed was “touched by the wand of God”, the baby Messi bathed – scored against Real Mallorca.
It was his first goal as an adult; it was also exactly as you imagine it, Lamine Yamal scoring the Lamine Yamal goal that was Messi’s once. He had come in from the right and then, when the ball settled in the corner, went back out again. Where, stopping before the Son Moix stands, he lowered an invisible crown to his head, a statement of intent for this season and beyond.
