“You’re very ugly, bastard. Go back to Morocco.” That’s what part of Atlético de Madrid’s stands shouted at Lamine Yamal during the match at the Metropolitano. Not at an anonymous rival: at Barcelona’s youngest forward, a boy who is still not yet 18 years old and who has already accumulated more titles than many footballers achieve in their entire career.
The most serious thing is not just that it happened, but that it had already happened before. Yamal is not going through an isolated incident: it is a pattern. Racist insults, references to his Moroccan origins, attacks that have nothing to do with football and everything to do with who he is. Every time the debate is reopened, the same statements appear, the same routine condemnations, and the same sanctions that, apparently, are not enough to keep this from happening again.
How many more matches does Lamine Yamal have to endure this before someone in LaLiga, at Atlético, or in the federation makes a decision that really hurts?