Lamine Yamal stressed on Monday that Barcelona should not treat a Champions League battle against Atlético Madrid as something that is insurmountable.
Barcelona travel to the Metropolitano on Tuesday trailing 2-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, a deficit that will leave them staring at an exit from the competition unless they can conjure something extraordinary away from home.
“We should not regard a comeback as a miracle,” Yamal said at a news conference.
«I’ve been fortunate that since I was a child, I’ve had to take on more responsibility than I should have. I’m used to it. I just focus on enjoying it, on not seeing it as a problem, but as a strength. I’m grateful for everything that happens to me,» he added.
More than half of the squad set to head to Madrid came from La Masia, Barcelona’s youth academy, with 18-year-old Yamal widely seen as the most dazzling product since Lionel Messi.
He burst onto the international stage by helping Spain win the 2024 European Championship and finished second in the 2025 Ballon d’Or election.
«It is very important to have many La Masia players on the pitch for matches like tomorrow. We are all homegrown, we all love Barcelona. We know what a moment like this means. We will do everything we can until the end,» he said.
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History offers sleek comfort. Only once in the Champions League has a team overturned a 2-0 home defeat, when Manchester United defeated Paris St Germain 3-1 in Paris in 2019.
Barcelona themselves have only managed one bigger escape in the knockout competition, erasing a 4-0 defeat to PSG with a 6-1 victory at the Camp Nou in the last 16 of 2016/17.
Given recent history, the task seems even greater. Last month, Barcelona were eliminated by Atletico in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey after a 4-0 defeat in the first leg at the Metropolitano.
A 3-0 win in the return proved insufficient, meaning Atletico ended up in the final against Real Sociedad on Saturday.
However, Yamal is convinced that Barcelona will not give up without a fight.
«We promise that if we are eliminated, we will fight until the end. We will give everything for this badge. It will be a match that will last 90 minutes or more; this is not over yet. A comeback is very possible and that is why we are here,» Yamal said.
Published on April 13, 2026
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