Lamine Yamal’s partner Ines Garcia reveals herpes diagnosis to five million followers

Ines Garcia, the partner of Barcelona and Spain forward Lamine Yamal, has spoken publicly about having herpes in a personal post shared with her nearly five million Instagram followers.

The 21-year-old influencer said she had not experienced an outbreak for a considerable time before discovering a cold sore on her nose after waking recently.

“It’s been a long time since I had herpes. Do you remember a year ago? At that time, I had at least one outbreak a month,” Garcia wrote on her Instagram story.

“Yesterday, I woke up and found one on my nose, and this is what I have looked like for the past 24 hours.”

Garcia accompanied her comments with a photograph showing the sore, as well as a video in which she filmed her face from several angles. Her decision to show the condition openly prompted a significant reaction online.

According to German newspaper Bild, the post attracted criticism and mockery, with some users questioning why she had chosen to share personal information about her health.

One post on X criticising Garcia’s decision to discuss the matter received more than 18,000 likes. Another user sarcastically claimed she woke up every day intending to embarrass Yamal, while a third joking comment about how difficult it would be to extract such information from its owner passed 2.4 million views.

The response is not the first social media controversy Garcia has faced since her relationship with Yamal became public in May 2026. She has repeatedly been targeted by criticism and rumours online, including claims concerning her previous relationships.

Garcia has previously said she received hundreds of thousands of messages containing abuse. She has also described dealing with fake accounts and AI-generated content about her, meaning her social media presence has regularly been accompanied by intense scrutiny.

The accompanying fixture listing identifies Barcelona’s La Liga match against Villarreal on 22 November 2026.