A goal by Lamine Yamal against Aston Villa prompted a brief pause on Cadena COPE after commentator Pedro Martín suggested that the Barcelona player could have remembered Tenerife’s Jesús de Miguel during his celebration. De Miguel had died, the column says, but it offers no details about the circumstances or about any connection between the two footballers.
Martín said: “It wouldn’t have been a bad thing if Lamine Yamal, when scoring the goal, had remembered the Tenerife player in some way, but well: he must be busy with his own things.” A short silence followed before the broadcast returned to its usual match commentary.
The column criticizes the remark for implying that Yamal lacked sensitivity despite there being no public knowledge of what he knew, how he received news of De Miguel’s death, or whether it affected him. It compares the judgment to criticism previously directed at Vinicius for focusing on racist abuse he had experienced, rather than speaking about other issues.
The article argues that public figures are increasingly judged not only for their actions but also for gestures they do not make. In that climate, a goal celebration can be treated as a test of character, with people assessing someone’s feelings without knowing their motives.
It closes with a pointed suggestion: if players are expected to acknowledge particular events when they score, coaches could give them a list of occasions to remember, along with instructions on what gestures of solidarity to make. The irony, the column says, is that players would then be expected to plan an expression of feeling in the middle of celebrating a goal.
Sources: El País Deportes.