Lamine Yamal was pictured waving a Palestinian flag during Barcelona’s celebrations for winning La Liga title on Monday evening.

The day after the club’s 29th Spanish league title was sealed in a 2-0 Clasico victory over rivals Real Madrid, the Barca team rode an open-top bus through the streets of the Catalan capital, which were lined with an estimated 750,000 supporters.

At one point along the way, Yamal appeared to ask for a Palestinian flag on a long pole to be passed up to him on the bus from the crowds below. The 18-year-old Spain international later posted a photo of himself waving the flag to his Instagram account, which has 42million followers.

How did it come about?

As the open-top bus carrying Barca’s players and staff moved slowly from the Camp Nou stadium through the city centre, many of the supporters lining the streets were waving flags, mostly either Barcelona’s club colours or the Estelada — a flag in support of Catalan independence from Spain.

As the vehicle passed down Barcelona’s central Passeig de Gracia, Yamal beckoned down to a woman who had been carrying the Palestinian flag alongside the bus since its departure from the Camp Nou.

The player took it up on board and waved it animatedly while dancing and jumping for three to five minutes, directing himself both towards the crowd and to the photographers who were accompanying the team.

Lamine Yamal waving the Palestinian flag on Barcelona’s open-top bus tour on Monday (The Athletic)

Sources close to Yamal, speaking anonymously as they did not have permission to comment, told The Athletic that it was a spontaneous act. They said Yamal had strong feelings about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that he has never shied away from using his platform to express his beliefs.

A practising Muslim, Yamal has spoken in interviews about the importance of his faith — for instance, detailing in interviews how he balances the month-long fast of Ramadan with the demands of being a top athlete.

But he has not spoken in public about the Israel-Gaza conflict, which began in 2023 after thousands of Palestinian militants crossed from Gaza and attacked southern Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials. Since then, more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, Gaza’s health ministry said in April.

The official account for the Palestinian mission to the United Nations shared a photo of Yamal waving the flag, taken by Catalan sports newspaper Mundo Deportivo, to its 440,000 followers on X.

What has been the reaction in Spain?

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez was asked about Yamal waving the flag during a press conference in Madrid on Tuesday with World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom.

“Spain has recognised the state of Palestine,” Sanchez responded.

“From the first minute, Spain condemned Hamas’ attacks, and then condemned the genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli authorities in the Gaza Strip. And also the illegal occupation through settlements in the West Bank. It’s time to comply with international law and end the war, and bring about peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine. Palestine has a right to exist, as we have always said that the State of Israel does.”

In September last year, a U.N. commission investigating the war in Gaza said that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians. A spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry denounced the report in a statement as “fake”.

Gabriel Rufian, a member of Spain’s parliament representing the Republican Left of Catalonia party, wrote on X that he was happy about someone with Yamal’s profile acting in this way.

“Lamine Yamal has 42million followers on Instagram and an enormous impact on even more millions of people around the world,” he wrote.

“People may today have passed from indifference to denouncing the genocide in Gaza just because he waved a flag of Palestine. Like it or not. Let’s celebrate. Good for him.”

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick was also asked about Yamal waving the Palestinian flag in his press conference on Tuesday, previewing their next La Liga match at Deportivo Alaves on Wednesday.

Flick said in a press conference on Tuesday that he “did not like” Yamal waving the flag (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

“I don’t like it,” he said, “I spoke to him (Yamal) and if he wants to do it, it’s his decision. He is 18.

“We have to bear in mind what people expect of us. We are playing football and you can see what people expect from us. When you saw people on the street with tears in their eyes. They were really happy. This is why we are here, we are playing football to make people happy.”

Yamal is the youngest player ever to represent Spain’s national team, with whom he won the 2024 European Championship. He is expected to again be one of the key players at this summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Has similar happened before in Spain?

The Israel-Gaza war has been a major topic of debate in Spain, especially since the October 7, 2023 attack and subsequent response by the Israeli army in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian protestors targeted the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team throughout the 2025 Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) cycling race, seriously disrupting a number of stages and leading to the abrupt abandonment of the final stage into Madrid on September 14.

The cycling team was rebranded last December as NSN Cycling Team, with NSN (Never Say Never) being the sports and entertainment company headed by former Barca and Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta.

Last January, when Maccabi Tel Aviv’s basketball team played at Real Madrid in the EuroLeague, the game took place behind closed doors on police advice, after protests from local groups in the Spanish capital.

Spanish president Sanchez is one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, and has called for Israel to be barred from international sport.

Other politicians, including Isabel Diaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, have criticised Sanchez’s stance and called for support for Israel.

Large pro-Palestinian protests have been held in Barcelona and other Spanish cities, including Madrid. Smaller demonstrations have taken place across the country in favour of Israel and condemnation of Hamas.

In August 2013, a Barcelona ‘peace tour’ to the region included meetings with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

During that trip, Barca players, including Lionel Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and Neymar, visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and put on a football clinic for boys and girls in the West Bank city of Dura.

Joan Laporta meets with Isaac Herzog, president of Israel

Details: https://t.co/NJk1JMFrQK pic.twitter.com/wmE4YDQLgg

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 18, 2021

In July 2021, Barca president Joan Laporta met with Israeli president Isaac Herzog and attended the opening of a ‘Barca The Exhibition’ exposition in Tel Aviv.

A ‘Legends Clasico’ between former Barca and Real Madrid players also took place that month at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium.

Additional reporting: Laia Cervello Herrero and Pol Ballus