Lamine Yamal says performances may have upset Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe

Lamine Yamal believes his performances for Barcelona and Spain last season placed him among the best players in the world, and suggested his displays may have influenced Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe’s views in the Ballon d’Or debate.

Barcelona are preparing to face Feyenoord at Camp Nou on Wednesday in their opening match of the first stage of the Champions League.

Yamal, speaking at the pre-match news conference, said winning Europe’s elite club competition was the team’s main motivation.

“I do not think there is a greater motivation than winning the Champions League. The whole team is motivated to achieve that. Here at Barcelona, we always think about this competition because it is the most special one, and perhaps this is our year. Players such as Rodri, Gordon, Adeyemi, Gabriel and Joao Cancelo have joined us, and we will see whether we can win the title.”

Barcelona were eliminated from last season’s competition by Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Yamal also spoke about his role within the squad and said he was proud to be one of Barcelona’s captains at the age of 19.

“It is a great honour to be one of Barcelona’s captains at 19 years old, and I am grateful to all my team-mates. This responsibility makes me take on even more responsibility despite my young age, but I am very happy and will try to give my best for the team.”

On the Ballon d’Or, Yamal said the final decision was outside his control but insisted he had produced an outstanding campaign for both club and country.

“I think that depends on you, not me. The work we did this year was incredible with both Barcelona and the national team. If I win the award, the first thing I will do is thank my club and my national team. I believe I have a great chance of winning it because I had a fantastic year.”

He added that he did not intend to campaign for the award or persuade people to vote for him.

“I do not think I need to promote myself. I will not try to convince you that I deserve the Ballon d’Or. Everyone has the right to see it in the way they want. I am proud of the season I had with my club and the national team. We became world champions and won the league again, and I cannot ask for more. I believe I performed at a very high level among those players and worked extremely hard. I will not start begging to win anything.”

Yamal said Barcelona would need to match the intensity of the leading teams if they were to challenge for major honours.

“It is enough to look at the teams that have won trophies recently. At Paris Saint-Germain, everyone presses, and here at Barcelona we are also trying to press together. Perhaps I lose concentration sometimes, but I quickly return to pressing. In modern football, if you do not run, any team will overcome you, no matter what your name is. If we do not run tomorrow, Feyenoord will beat us. It is about what benefits the team. If we want to win, we have to run, and if we do not, we will lose.”

The teenager said his personal objective was to continue improving, while Barcelona’s collective ambition was to keep winning trophies, particularly the Champions League.

“I want to continue winning titles and, of course, win this very special competition. Individually, I want to keep developing. I am still a very young player and there are many areas where I can improve, but I believe I can always develop if I continue listening and learning. That is my objective.”

Yamal also described his relationships with Fermin Lopez and Dani Olmo, explaining how their styles complement his own.

“Fermin Lopez and Olmo are both very good players. Fermin tends to move into space, passes the ball to me and then makes another run, while Olmo tends to keep possession and play with the ball. But my relationship with both of them is excellent on and off the pitch, so I feel very comfortable playing with either of them.”

Asked about Real Madrid’s failure to win the league for two years, Yamal replied: “If Real Madrid have not won for two years, that is their problem. I do not know. We are very happy with the refereeing and with everything. You should ask them those questions. I see them as happy.”

On Dembele leaving him out of his top three Ballon d’Or candidates, Yamal said: “He is Kylian Mbappe’s friend, isn’t he? In any case, it does not matter to me. I am happy with the season he had. I think that every time I faced them together, perhaps I did something that made them dislike me, and that is normal. My relationship with Ousmane is good and I understand that he wants to choose other players, but I am happy with what I achieved this year and confident that everyone saw it, even if he did not.”

Yamal finished by dismissing suggestions that he was unhappy, saying he remained content despite the increased attention surrounding him.

“I am very happy. I do not know why there is all this talk. In the end, I am 19 years old and had just returned from winning the World Cup, then I had the best holiday of my life, so I was extremely happy. It seems as if everything suddenly changed, but I am still the same person I have always been and I have a great deal of support. I have never been happier at any stage of my life than I am now.”