Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal has already eclipsed Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo‘s tally of La Liga titles.
Unbelievably, Yamal had already, officially, won the Spanish top flight as many times as Ronaldo did across his nine years in the capital – twice. He managed that feat at the age of just 17.
Now he has moved ahead of Ronaldo’s La Liga title tally before his 19th birthday.
To be fair, Yamal’s first La Liga title was a bit of a technicality. He played just seven minutes – a solitary cameo appearance off the bench to help see out a 4-0 victory over Real Betis – in the 2022-23 title Barcelona won under Xavi Hernandez.
Not even the most shameless Yamal propagandist would try to claim that he made any real contribution in Barcelona’s league title that year. But his honours list doesn’t lie – and making that first-team appearance made him eligible for a winner’s medal.
Technicality or not, it was quite something for Yamal to be integrated into Xavi’s first-team training set-up and be given his bow at such a young age. With that debut against Betis, he became the fifth youngest player in La Liga’s history at 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days old – as well as Barcelona’s youngest debutant in over a century.
Real Madrid took Barcelona’s La Liga crown in Yamal’s proper breakthrough season, 2023-24, but he’s since grown into one of their best and most important players under Hansi Flick.
The teenager flourished, particularly in the latter months, as Flick’s Barca claimed a domestic treble last term and reached the Champions League semi-finals. That season came off the back of the starring role he played in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph.
And he’s only getting better and better. This season, Yamal has notched a career-best total of 16 goals and 12 assists despite missing the last few weeks through injury.
In his absence, Barcelona have notched three wins against Getafe, Osasuna and Real Madrid, the latter of which sealed the title in Barcelona’s favour once again. And a third title has been claimed by Yamal.
Ronaldo spent nine seasons with Los Blancos after becoming their record signing in 2009. He scored 311 goals in just 292 appearances in the Spanish top flight, becoming the club’s all-time top goalscorer, but he only won the title twice (2011-12, 2016-17) – though he did win four Champions Leagues as a Real Madrid player.
Lionel Messi’s Barcelona beat Madrid to the La Liga title on six occasions during Ronaldo’s time there, while Atletico also won one in 2013-14.
It’s a collective sport and context is king. But given Ronaldo’s goalscoring exploits and years of dominance, we can’t quite believe he’s been surpassed by a kid.
