Lamine Yamal revelled in Barcelona’s LaLiga title win during his side’s open-top bus parade on Monday – and found time to settle old scores with Real Madrid rival Jude Bellingham on social media.
The talented teenager has endured an injury-speckled season at the Camp Nou this term, and was forced to watch their final run of games from the sideline after suffering a hamstring tear in late April.
But even from the stands the Spain international was able to thoroughly enjoy Hansi Flick and Co claim the league in the final El Clasico of the season on Sunday, with the hosts romping to victory 2-0 before lifting the title.
As he celebrated in Catalonia, Yamal no doubt enjoyed twisting the knife as he brandished a shirt in his own team colours with a pointed slogan on the back.
‘Thank God I’m not a Madridista,’ the jersey read cheekily, referring to the nickname for diehards who follow Los Blancos.
The Ballon d’Or runner-up also had a message on Instagram for Real Madrid, and one player in particular.
Lamine Yamal shared a cheeky message with a pointed jersey after claiming the LaLiga title
He also made sure to recall past grudges as he referenced Jude Bellingham on social media
Yamal posted footage of himself celebrating his title at Camp Nou on Sunday evening, with the caption ‘talk is cheap’, referencing a dig Bellingham had first deployed in October.
Following Real Madrid’s win in that iteration of El Clasico, Bellingham had shared his own post after scoring the winner to make it 2-1.
‘Talk is cheap. Hala Madrid siempre,’ Bellingham wrote on a picture of himself with his arms stretched wide, seemingly prompted by Yamal’s comments in the build-up to the clash accusing Real Madrid of ‘stealing and complaining’.
The slight appeared to still rankle in Catalonia, with Yamal’s team-mate acknowledging his apparent dig by reposting it, with a string of talking-head emojis signalling that he echoed the sentiment.
Yamal’s post will only add insult to injury for Real Madrid, who end the season without silverware amid chaos in the Spanish capital.
Since that autumn El Clasico victory, head coach Xabi Alonso has been sacked, and division is rife in the dressing room, with Kylian Mbappe among those to come under fire for an apparent lack of commitment to the storied club.
But tensions at the club reached their zenith last week, during an apparent spat between Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde which left the latter unconscious and bleeding after splitting his forehead open.
Valverde was later diagnosed with a head injury which kept him out of the weekend’s Clasico, and will see him on the sidelines for up to two weeks.
The Uruguayan was adamant that neither he nor Tchouameni hit one another, and that he had cut his forehead falling onto a table, but Real Madrid was swift to open disciplinary proceedings into the behaviour of both players.
Amid the melodrama, former head coach Jose Mourinho is thought to be edging closer to a return to Madrid, less than a season after taking over at another of his former clubs, Benfica.
