Barça prodigy stood out on La Liga’s opening weekend, but Santi Cazorla and Nico Williams produced compelling storylines, too
H
eavy is the head that wears the crown but Lamine Yamal is willing to wear it. Willing? He wants to, so there he was on Saturday night conducting his own coronation. With the last touch of Barcelona’s first game of 2025-26, their new No 10 – the player handed a six-year contract and the shirt Ladislao Kubala, Luis Suárez, Diego Maradona, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi wore, the kid Spain coach Luis del la Fuente claimed was “touched by the wand of God”, the baby Messi bathed – scored against Real Mallorca.
It was his first goal as an adult; it was also exactly as you imagine it, Lamine Yamal scoring the Lamine Yamal goal that was Messi’s once. He had come in from the right and then, when the ball settled in the corner, went back out again. Where, stopping before the Son Moix stands, he lowered an invisible crown to his head, a statement of intent for this season and beyond.
An opening weekend that is not over yet – Elche play Betis on Monday night, Real Madrid face Osasuna on Tuesday – brought controversy despite the introduction of such vital changes to the refereeing structure as calling the officials by their first name and one surname not two, which meant José Luis Munuera got blamed in Mallorca instead of Munuera Montero. It brought victory for Rayo Vallecano, courtesy of comical errors from the Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga, and for Getafe in Vigo where Christantus Uche went all original Ronaldo. It brought the capital’s other team to their knees, the new Atlético Madrid ending up like the old one, beaten 2-1 at Espanyol, whose coach Manolo González was once literally employed to park the bus and has never lost to Diego Simeone. And it brought old faces back, then defeated them both, promoted Real Oviedo losing at Villarreal and Levante at Alaves.
