Robert Lewandowski has offered a blunt but thoughtful read on why Lamine Yamal did not quite hit his highest gear for Spain at the 2026 World Cup. The short version is simple: the teenager arrived carrying the weight of a recent hamstring injury, and even elite talent can look a little less explosive when the body is still catching up. Still, Lewandowski made it clear that Yamal was far from quiet, because the young winger still played a huge role in Spain’s march to the title.
Yamal came into the tournament after missing time late in Barcelona’s La Liga run, and that mattered more than people like to admit. Spain manager Luis de la Fuente handled him carefully at first, easing him in rather than throwing him straight into full-speed chaos. Even with the minutes managed, the 19-year-old still logged eight appearances, scored once, and piled up a tournament-high 35 dribbles while Spain took down Portugal, France, and Argentina on the way to the trophy.
Lewandowski, who knows Yamal well from their time together at Barcelona, did not sugarcoat his view when asked whether fans saw the winger at his absolute peak. He told ESPN: “Honestly, no, we didn’t [see his best this tournament]. The best performance, the best Lamine for me, of course, wasn’t the last season, but two seasons ago, that was for me now the best version of Lamine Yamal. “
He added that the injury break made the whole situation even tougher, especially for a player still so early in his career. “He’s still young, he came to the World Cup after injury and he didn’t play for like eight weeks so it’s tough if you don’t play eight weeks and you have to start playing in the World Cup, then you don’t have time for the training just from game to game. But he showed really good quality. The Spain players and the team helped Lamine and Lamine also helped the whole team. I think that this cooperation was perfect.”
That last part says a lot about how Spain won the thing. This was not a one-man show, and it was not built on one dazzling run or one outrageous finish. It was the kind of team performance that lets a gifted teenager breathe a little, make mistakes, then keep pushing until the rhythm clicks.
Lewandowski also had a personal reason for backing Spain in the final against Argentina, and it had everything to do with the locker-room connections he built in Barcelona. He said he knew so many of the Spanish players well that it felt natural to pull for them once his own Poland side was out of the picture. When you spend that much time around the same faces, support stops being abstract and starts feeling personal.
He explained, “I know a lot of players from Spain and I spent so much time in Barcelona with them, so I supported them a lot.
“Of course, I know from Argentina personally only Leo, but I know that he won the last World Cup. That’s why I support the Spanish national team because if you play with them, you spend a lot of time together then it’s easier to support this team.
“I was happy because I know they were ready to win the World Cup. They are very young and the future is in front of them.”
That confidence in Spain’s next wave fits neatly with the way Yamal is being discussed now. When a player is that talented, every performance gets magnified, and every dip gets framed like a crisis, even when there’s an obvious physical reason for it. The reality is that a long injury layoff can flatten anyone’s sharpness, especially in a tournament where the pace, pressure, and recovery windows all feel brutally tight.
Barcelona, naturally, will be watching the situation closely now that the international run is over and the focus shifts back to club football. Yamal’s next challenge is not proving he belongs, because that box has already been checked. It is about getting his body right, finding that burst again, and building toward the kind of form that makes defenders backpedal before he has even touched the ball.
Lewandowski, meanwhile, has already moved on to a fresh chapter in MLS with Chicago Fire, where he made his debut against Inter Miami CF and talked about wanting to make an immediate impact. “I’m ready to do this and try to help my team-mates and new club take the next step, and also to win some titles.”
