Lamine Yamal told a 60 Minutes interviewer in 2025 that the soccer ball was his "first love" — that if he could talk to it, he'd "ask it to marry me and to have lots of kids." Weeks into the 2026 World Cup, it's safe to say he's juggling two loves now.
The 18-year-old Barcelona and Spain winger hard-launched his relationship with Sevillian influencer Inés García at a Barcelona title dinner in May 2026, after the club wrapped up the La Liga trophy. The same week, videos surfaced of the pair in the VIP section at a Bad Bunny concert in Barcelona. Not exactly a quiet introduction.
She flew to Atlanta. That's a bigger deal than it sounds.
García, 21, has 300K Instagram followers and 790K on TikTok, where she posts fashion, beauty content, and the occasional lip-sync. She's been open about one thing that complicates her life as the girlfriend of a globe-trotting footballer: she's terrified of flying.
"I love traveling, but I'm terrified of flying," she told Spanish outlet Woman Madame Figaro earlier this year. "The two things don't really go together."
And yet, there she was in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 15 — wearing Yamal's jersey number in the stands for Spain's World Cup opener, posting a string of red-flag-and-heart emojis to her Stories. She later shared a photo of herself and Lamine sitting together in the stadium. The fear of flying, apparently, has limits.
Dating rumors around the pair first surfaced when fans spotted them walking hand in hand in Greece over the summer. García later posted vacation photos in the same outfit from the fan footage, including what looked like a bouquet from a new admirer. A follow-up Stories post confirmed it — the note on the flowers read "I love you" and was signed with Lamine's name.
Yamal arrives at this World Cup on borrowed time
The romantic storyline is fun, but the football context matters. Yamal suffered a hamstring injury in April that ruled him out for the rest of the club season. He spent over a month on the sidelines before being cleared to play in the tournament on June 14 — one day before Spain's opener. That's a razor-thin turnaround, and anyone tracking Spain's odds to go deep in this tournament should keep that in mind. A player of his importance coming in without match sharpness is a real variable, not a footnote.
He's still only 18, making his first World Cup appearance. García conquered a fear of flying to be there for it. The flowers had his name on the card. The story writes itself — Yamal's just trying to make sure the football part lives up to the rest of it.
