"I am in love with him; it feels like he is my son." That's Lamine Yamal talking about his four-year-old half-brother Keyne — and if you've watched Spain at this World Cup, you've almost certainly already seen the kid stealing cameras from the stands.
While Yamal is out there dismantling defenses — Player of the Match against Belgium, three goals across two previous semifinal meetings with France, the tournament's most terrifying teenager — Keyne is busy becoming an internet phenomenon from the stands. Born in September 2022, he's 15 years younger than his big brother, and he has absolutely no idea he's supposed to be starstruck by any of this. He's just having the time of his life.
The Yamal family doing laps of North America
Keyne is Lamine's half-brother on his mother's side — Sheila Ebana's son from a different relationship. The two share a mother but different fathers, though watching them together, you'd never clock the distinction. Lamine has made that clear enough himself.
After Spain's win over Austria, Yamal said he's "moved" seeing Keyne this happy. That quote landed differently than your standard post-match platitude. He genuinely means it.
Keyne has been traveling with the family throughout the tournament — World Cup games across North America, Barcelona's domestic campaign, trophy celebrations at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. For a toddler born in September 2022, the CV is already absurd.
Lamine also has a half-sister
Keyne isn't the only sibling. Lamine has a younger half-sister named Baraa through his father, Mounir Nasraoui. Unlike Keyne, Baraa has been kept almost entirely out of the public eye — no viral moments, no stand appearances on broadcast cameras. The family's choice, and one that's been respected.
Keyne, meanwhile, has no such anonymity left. The four-year-old is a World Cup celebrity now, whether he knows what that means or not. Spain are one win away from a final, Yamal is the most dangerous player in the tournament, and his little brother is in the stands cheering him on.
"My little brother means everything to me." That one's going to age well.
