Up until now, it’s safe to say that Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal has not had the 2026 World Cup that many expected him to have. The 18-year-old has registered only one goal and zero assists in five appearances, although the best could still be yet to come.
Lamine Yamal, [whose maturity was recently praised](https://barcanewsnetwork.com/nico-williams-praises-barcelona-stars-maturity-hes-handling-it-really-well/) by Spain teammate and close friend Nico Williams, has spoken on his World Cup so far during an interview with [MD](https://www.mundodeportivo.com/seleccion-espanola/20260709/1004204471/lamine-yamal-mejor-no-me-sirve.html), and he acknowledged that coming into the tournament cold has had an impact.
**“I think I can be better. I’m very demanding of myself. It doesn’t help me with what I do. I’ve never said ‘okay, that’s enough’. Not even when I’m at Barça have I reached my goal, so now I don’t either. I had been out for almost two months and it’s not the same as when you’ve already played seven games in a row. Keep touching the ball, keep playing, keep adding minutes and, obviously, that game is going to come.”**
Lamine Yamal also dismissed suggestions that his on-field frustrations have ever boiled over into anger, especially when it comes to not scoring.
****“After the game against Saudi Arabia, people thought I was angry that I didn’t score. I always tell my friends that I’ve never left a pitch angry about not scoring. My goal is not to score a goal, because a goal can be scored by any player. I wanted more. I wanted to raise my level in the game, to be more decisive. It wasn’t for scoring a goal. Maybe people notice that I throw a lot of plays because I want to score, but I don’t. I play like that. I’ve always been like that. People who watch all my games at Barça know that I do sixty one-on-ones. I think that’s the part of anxiety that the coach is referring to.”****
He also promised to deliver better performances for the rest of the World Cup, starting with Spain’s upcoming quarter-final showdown against Belgium.
**“Always the closer the important matches get, the semi-finals or the final, the better level I serve. I’ve never been a player who is the best in the group stage. I’m calm about that. I know I have opportunities to show it and I hope that against Belgium it will be a great game for the whole team.”**