Barcelona star Lamine Yamal has revealed that he has experienced racism "a thousand times."
The 19-year-old said people can sometimes be "indirectly racist" and "without realising it," whilst stressing that "what is wrong can never be accepted."
The World Cup winner, who has started this season in fine form for Barcelona, scoring seven goals in six La Liga matches, spoke in an interview with Movistar, which will be broadcast on Sept. 18 in Spain about the subject of racism.
In extracts shown on social media, Yamal said: "A thousand times [I've experienced racism].
"People are indirectly racist towards you, even though they don't realise it. There are lots of comments or looks that are racist, and they don't realise it."
Yamal has quickly become one of the most iconic faces in football after rising to prominence during the 2024 Euros, which Spain also won.
And he explains now that while he does not accept racism, he is no longer phased by it.
"I'm at a place where, it's not that it's accepted, because you can never accept something that's wrong, but it doesn't bother you [when it happens]," he added.
Yamal spoke further on a specific example of being unfazed by the comments, describing a time when he did not react despite being called Black by an opposition fan.
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People ended up surprised by Yamal's lack of reaction but he explained why he did not react.
"There's that well-known video from the Bernabéu where people were shouting all sorts of things at Raphinha and me, and everyone was surprised by my reaction," he said.
"Being called 'Black' doesn't bother me in the slightest -- I am Black, after all.
"It's another matter entirely that it's wrong, because he's saying it to offend me, but if I'm playing a match and he's paid for a ticket to watch me, I'm not going to get angry just because I've been disrespected."
