Lamine Yamal has made a habit in his young career of ‘building up’ big games on social media the night before, and the Catalan derby is the latest game to be given the treatment. Some are interpreting his post as a response to Espanyol’s Pere Milla, ahead of a controversial response during an interview.

The derby clash is usually heated anyway, but hostilities are set to be taken up a notch with the return of Joan Garcia to the RCDE Stadium for the first time since he crossed the divide. Ahead of the match, Milla was asked whom he would rather step on during it, Joan Garcia or Lamine Yamal, and picked the Spain star, albeit in a ‘humorous’ tone.

Lamine Yamal’s response on Instagram

Hours after Milla’s comments became headline news, Lamine Yamal posted on his Instagram story a picture of himself celebrating the decisive goal from a 2-0 win in Cornella last season. A second photo was posted shortly afterwards, of the same celebration from a different angle, with the caption ‘Looking forward to returning’.

Lamine Yamal’s pre-match socials

Perhaps the most famous example of the 18-year-old charging a big game with narrative was ahead of the Euro 2024 semi-final, with Spain taking on France. In response to Adrien Rabiot saying that he would ‘have to doi much more’, Lamine Yamal responded with a story saying ‘only speak when it is time to say checkmate’. After La Roja’s victory, he followed it up with a story saying checkmate.

🚨 FC Barcelona have exactly one week, until Friday, January 9th, to present to La Liga the medical report of Andreas Christensen that would allow them to use 80% of his salary to register a replacement signing. [@MariaTikas]

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 2, 2026

This season he did rile up Real Madrid ahead of El Clasico during a live stream, accusing Los Blancos of ‘robbing games’. A fired up Real Madrid side would run out victors, with Thibaut Courtois admitting that Lamine Yamal’s comments had helped his side to victory.