JAKARTA - Lamine Yamal said that she felt like playing Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) because the teenager was targeting trebles with Barcelona this season.
The 17-year-old has scored 13 goals and provided 19 assists this year to help the Blaugrana stay in three games towards the end of the season.
Barcelona lead La Liga by a four-point difference with eight games remaining, against Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final on April 26, 2025, and welcome Borussia Dortmund at the Olympic Stadium Lluis Companys on Thursday, April 10, 2025, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
"I'm one of the people who always believe in their team. Since the start of the season, I've always been after the best."
"So if we can win trebles at the start of the season, that's the goal. Even now there's no difference."
"Not because you are too confident or something like that, but because you have to believe in yourself."
"If you say that another team will win, I don't know why you went on the pitch to play so we can win trebles."
"We are Barcelona. We have achieved it (in 2009 and 2015) - hopefully we can do it again," Yamal told ESPN when asked if talks about treble were too early.
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It's been two years since Yamal made his debut for Barcelona when he was 15 years old.
Since then, he has been the youngest player to ever score in La Liga and the knockout stages of the Champions League, the debutant and youngest goalscorer of the Spanish National Team, as well as the European champions with his country last summer.
He likened his rapid increase to playing video games, saying that the pressure to engage in some of the biggest football games didn't scare him off.
"It feels like a dream. I still think like that. If we reach the Champions League final, the Copa del Rey final, this month's (El Clasico) final, the World Cup (next year with Spain), everything is like a dream."
"It's as if I'm playing PES. It's amazing. When you come home and say, I'm playing in the Euro final. It's amazing."
"I don't (know the pressure). I'm just trying to enjoy myself. I don't think too much about other things."
"I'm also not really thinking about what I'm doing, what I'm going to do tomorrow, what games I'm going to play, whether it's more important (than anything else)."
"Obviously I know I played for Barcelona. I know the importance of it, but I don't think about pressure. I play, enjoy myself. That's all," he said again.
What's amazing is how fast Yamal becomes a key player for his club and country.
He has played for 3.448 minutes for Barcelona in all events this season - only Jules Kounde, Pedri, and Raphinha have played more - and have started in the last 21 games for the Catalan club.
Exposure to so many games at such a young age has led some people to ask him to rest more. However, Yamal said that he felt fit ahead of the last two months of the season.
"I feel really good. I think one thing I learned this year is how to manage myself."
"Some people say, why don't you move for 10 minutes? But, in the end, there are times when you don't have to run around the clock."
"You have to know how to organize yourself during the game, during the season, to know what you have to do during training."
"So, I think it's something I've learned. To be honest, I did really well," he said.
Yamal's contract expires in 2026, but he has previously confirmed that he will sign a new long-term contract, with sources saying the attacker will do so when he turns 18 later this year.
He hopes this will be the start of a long career with Barcelona.
"That's a difficult question. I'm going to be 27 (years old). I think it's similar to now, moving between the training ground and my house, and returning to training," he said when asked where he saw himself in the next 10 years.
Nearby, Barcelona will host Dortmund in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final on Thursday, April 10, 2025, early morning WIB.
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