Lamine Yamal: From McDonald's to the world stage
Barcelona’s teenage sensation opens up about his mother’s sacrifices and the values that shaped his rise to football’s top table.
Lamine Yamal has lit up the Camp Nou and Spain’s national team, but the 17-year-old winger traces his hunger back to a childhood where his mother’s McDonald’s wages funded their life in Barcelona’s Roquetes district. Yamal, whose father is from Morocco and mother from Guinea, grew up in a single-parent household where meals were simple and nights were long. His mother worked late shifts at a local McDonald’s, often returning home with just enough to cover rent and groceries, yet she carved out time to ferry him to training sessions at La Masia.
