Barcelona star Lamine Yamal has promised to bring the Champions League back to the club, after their drought in the competition was extended to 11 years on Tuesday night. The 18-year-old opened the scoring against Atletico Madrid, but was powerless to stop Los Colchoneros going through 3-2 on aggregate.
The Blaugrana were convinced that they would be able to mount a comeback against Atletico in the second leg, and did so in the second half. Ademola Lookman responded with a goal seven minutes later though, and Barcelona could not find the equaliser in the second half.
Ig Fermín López: "Culer pride. We gave everything, we'll be back. Visca el Barça, always 💙❤️
Thank you for your messages."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) April 15, 2026
Nobody seemed more disappointed than Lamine Yamal, who put his all into the comeback effort. The following day on Instagram, he sent a message to the Barcelona fans.
We gave it our all but it wasn’t good enough. This is just part of the road: to get to the top you have to climb, and we know it won’t be easy nor will they make it easy for us. But giving up is not an option.
We have plenty of reasons to be excited about, and we’re going for them with everything. Every mistake is a lesson, and don’t doubt that we will learn from each one.
We are Barca, and we will be back where we belong. My parents taught me that a man’s word is always fulfilled.. and we’ll bring her to Barcelona.
Sempre Barca
The defeat will no doubt hurt a Barcelona squad that was convinced they had what it took to win the competition. Asked what it was that they were lacking to win the competition, manager Hansi Flick said that he was focused on winning La Liga. The Blaugrana host Celta Vigo next week, and will look to maintain their nine-point advantage over Real Madrid at the top of the league.
