Lamine Yamal is only 19 years old, yet the Barcelona forward is already one of football’s most closely watched young stars. His interviews regularly attract attention alongside his performances on the pitch.
During a recent Movistar Plus interview, Yamal explained why he does not particularly enjoy watching Bayern Munich. His comments about Bayern’s dominance drew attention online, although the later responses from Max Eberl and Harry Kane concerned Yamal’s separate Ballon d’Or remarks.
Yamal admits he skips Bayern games
During a recent Movistar Plus interview, Lamine Yamal was asked whether he watches matches involving major European clubs such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. He indicated that he watches Real Madrid and PSG but does not particularly enjoy watching Bayern.
Yamal explained that Bayern are often so dominant in the Bundesliga that he expects them to control their opponents. He made a similar point about Bayern’s matches during the Champions League league phase.
He did make an exception for Bayern’s Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain, which he described as a great game. His point was therefore about Bayern’s perceived dominance rather than an absolute refusal to watch the German club.
Why Yamal finds Bayern so predictable
Yamal explained that Bayern’s dominance is the main reason he does not particularly enjoy watching the German champions. He said that in the Bundesliga, he expects Bayern to be very dominant over their opponents.
He also said he often skips Bayern during the Champions League league phase because of that same dominance. His comments focused on his personal viewing preferences rather than claiming that every Bayern match has a predetermined result.
Yamal did praise Bayern’s Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain, describing it as a great game. That exception makes clear that his comments concerned entertainment and perceived predictability rather than an absolute criticism of Bayern’s football.
Bayern’s long reputation for total dominance
Bayern Munich has established itself as the most successful club in Bundesliga history and has also enjoyed major success in European competition. Its domestic record provides a clear context for Yamal’s comments about the club’s dominance.
Bayern won a record 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles from 2012/13 through 2022/23. Bayer Leverkusen ended that streak in 2023/24, before Bayern reclaimed the championship in 2024/25 and successfully defended it in 2025/26.
Bayern finished the 2025/26 Bundesliga season with 89 points, 16 points ahead of Borussia Dortmund. That sustained domestic success helps explain why some viewers, including Yamal, perceive many Bayern matches as predictable.
The infamous 8-2 Barcelona defeat
One of Bayern’s most famous Champions League victories came against Barcelona on August 14, 2020. Bayern defeated the Spanish club 8–2 in a one-leg quarterfinal played in Lisbon.
UEFA described it as a record-breaking result, with Bayern becoming the first team to score 8 goals in a Champions League knockout match. Philippe Coutinho, who was on loan at Bayern from Barcelona, scored twice late in the match.
The result remains a significant chapter in the history between the clubs, although Yamal has not linked that 2020 defeat to his current views on Bayern. Barcelona later returned to major domestic success, including consecutive La Liga titles in 2024/25 and 2025/26.
Bayern crush Union Berlin 7-0
Bayern provided a fresh example of their scoring power on September 18, 2026, when they defeated Union Berlin 7–0 at the Allianz Arena in Bundesliga Matchday 4.
Michael Olise scored a hat trick, while Harry Kane scored twice. Kane’s penalty was his 100th Bundesliga goal in his 98th league appearance, setting a new record for reaching the milestone, before his second goal took his total to 101.
Jamal Musiala and Ismael Saibari scored Bayern’s other goals in the Friday evening victory. The emphatic result closely illustrated the type of one-sided Bayern performance Yamal had described when explaining his viewing preferences.
Eberl and Kane fire back at Yamal
Bayern board member for sport Max Eberl was asked about Lamine Yamal’s separate Ballon d’Or comments following the club’s 7–0 Bundesliga victory over Union Berlin. Eberl said that the best players do not need campaigning to support their case for the award.
Harry Kane was also asked about Yamal’s remarks and took a more diplomatic approach. He said people could interpret Yamal’s comments differently and praised the Barcelona forward as an incredible player who had enjoyed a great season.
Kane added that he prefers to let his performances on the pitch speak for him rather than publicly promote himself. His response avoided turning Yamal’s comments into a personal dispute.
Yamal’s bold Ballon d’Or comments explained
Yamal’s comments about Bayern came amid wider attention surrounding his views on the Ballon d’Or. During his Movistar Plus interview, he argued that the award should recognize the best individual player rather than automatically favor someone based on a huge goal total.
Yamal said that if a player scores 80 goals, there is already a separate award for being the season’s leading scorer. His remarks were widely interpreted as potentially referring to Harry Kane, although Yamal did not explicitly name Kane in that statement.
Kane scored 73 goals for Bayern Munich and England across the 2025/26 season and received the European Golden Shoe after finishing as Europe’s leading domestic league scorer. The Golden Shoe itself was based on his Bundesliga scoring record, not his 73-goal total across club and international football.
What comes next for both clubs
Yamal’s comments are likely to remain part of the discussion as Barcelona continue their 2026/27 campaign. At 19, the winger is already receiving considerable attention for both his performances and his public comments.
Bayern have produced several convincing results this season, including a 5–0 Champions League victory over Bodø/Glimt and the 7–0 win against Union Berlin. However, their Bundesliga campaign has not been completely one-sided, with a 0–0 draw against Schalke and a 2–1 win over Elversberg also appearing among their early results.
Barcelona and Bayern could still cross paths later in European competition, but no such meeting is currently guaranteed. For now, Yamal’s comments have added another talking point to the long history between the clubs.
Little-known fact: Yamal revealed that Barcelona started coaching him on handling public attention through psychologists when he was still a child at La Masia, long before he ever played a senior match.
TL;DR
- Lamine Yamal told Movistar Plus that he does not enjoy watching Bayern Munich because he considers them too dominant.
- He said he prefers watching teams such as Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, while praising Bayern’s match against PSG as a great game.
- Bayern defeated Barcelona 8–2 in Lisbon on August 14, 2020, with Philippe Coutinho scoring twice against his parent club.
- Bayern beat Union Berlin 7–0 on September 18, with Michael Olise scoring three goals and Harry Kane scoring twice.
- Max Eberl and Kane responded to Yamal’s separate Ballon d’Or comments after the Union Berlin match.
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This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.
