Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal drew significant attention during the club’s La Liga victory celebrations on Monday by prominently displaying a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag, The Associated Press reported.
As the open top bus moved through the streets of Barcelona to mark the team’s Spanish title win, the 18-year-old athlete was seen holding the flag before nearly 750,000 gathered fans.
Yamal, a Muslim whose father is of Moroccan origin, further publicized the gesture by sharing images of himself with the flag on his personal Instagram account. The incident occurs amidst a heightened global atmosphere where international sporting and cultural events have increasingly become platforms for anti-Israel sentiment and protests.
During a news conference on Tuesday, Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick was asked to address the teenager’s actions. While Flick acknowledged that the player is an adult, he expressed his personal preference for keeping such displays out of the team’s professional environment.
“This I don’t normally like. I spoke with him. I said if he wants this, it is his decision. He is old enough. He’s 18 years old," said Flick, as quoted by AP.
The coach emphasized that his primary focus remains on the sport and the joy that the team's consecutive titles bring to the community.
“We are playing football and you can see what the people expect from us. We are playing football to make the people happy. This is for me the first thing we have to do."
The display by Yamal is the latest in a series of incidents involving Spanish sports and culture. Spain is currently among five nations boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest due to Israel’s participation, and similar protests have surfaced in professional cycling and basketball.
The incident also comes amid ongoing tensions between Israel and Spain, which has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel.
In November of 2023, Spain’s Ambassador to Israel was summoned by the Foreign Ministry after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez claimed that "Israel is violating international law and is carrying out indiscriminate killings in Gaza."
In April of 2024, Sanchez criticized what he called Israel's "disproportionate response" in the Gaza war, saying it risks "destabilizing the Middle East, and as a consequence, the entire world".
A month later, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares advocated for international sanctions against Israel, citing the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
More recently, the Director General of the Foreign Ministry, Eden Bar Tal, held a reprimand call with the head of the Spanish Embassy in Israel, Francisca Pedrós.
The conversation took place in response to a shocking antisemitic display in which an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was detonated in El Burgo, a small town near the southern city of Malaga.