Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal is on the cusp of eclipsing Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo‘s tally of La Liga titles.
Unbelievably, Yamal has already, officially, won the Spanish top flight as many times as Ronaldo did across his nine years in the capital – twice. He managed that feat at the age of just 17.
Now he’s set to move ahead of Ronaldo’s La Liga title tally before his 19th birthday.
To be fair, Yamal’s first La Liga title was a bit of a technicality. He played just seven minutes – a solitary cameo appearance off the bench to help see out a 4-0 victory over Real Betis – in the 2022-23 title Barcelona won under Xavi Hernandez.
Not even the most shameless Yamal propagandist would try to claim that he made any real contribution in Barcelona’s league title that year. But his honours list doesn’t lie – and making that first-team appearance made him eligible for a winner’s medal.
Technicality or not, it was quite something for Yamal to be integrated into Xavi’s first-team training set-up and be given his bow at such a young age. With that debut against Betis, he became the fifth youngest player in La Liga’s history at 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days old – as well as Barcelona’s youngest debutant in over a century.
Real Madrid took Barcelona’s La Liga crown in Yamal’s proper breakthrough season, 2023-24, but he’s since grown into one of their best and most important players under Hansi Flick.
The teenager flourished, particularly in the latter months, as Flick’s Barca claimed a domestic treble last term and reached the Champions League semi-finals. That season came off the back of the starring role he played in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph.
And he’s only getting better and better. This season, Yamal has notched a career-best total of 15 goals and 11 assists. On Saturday, he assisted two Ferran Torres goals before getting on the scoresheet himself as Barcelona thrashed their city rivals Espanyol 4-1.
Yamal’s starring role in Barcelona’s latest win has practically confirmed that they’ll retain the La Liga title – something that Real Madrid haven’t done in almost 20 years (2007-08).
Barcelona have returned from the international break by beating Atletico Madrid and Espanyol. They’ve capitalised on Madrid losing to Mallorca and drawing to Girona to stretch their lead at the top of La Liga to nine points. With just seven games left to play, that is surely insurmountable.
Even with another El Clasico on the horizon – a fixture in which Barcelona could theoretically seal the La Liga title against their old foes – it now appears a question of when, not if, Yamal overtakes Ronaldo for La Liga titles.
That’s ridiculous when you consider that Yamal doesn’t turn 19 until the summer and this is only his fourth La Liga campaign.
Ronaldo spent nine seasons with Los Blancos after becoming their record signing in 2009. He scored 311 goals in just 292 appearances in the Spanish top flight, becoming the club’s all-time top goalscorer, but he only won the title twice (2011-12, 2016-17) – though he did win four Champions Leagues as a Real Madrid player.
Lionel Messi’s Barcelona beat Madrid to the La Liga title on six occasions during Ronaldo’s time there, while Atletico also won one in 2013-14.
It’s a collective sport and context is king. But given Ronaldo’s goalscoring exploits and years of dominance, we can’t quite believe he’s about to be surpassed by a kid.
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