Robert Lewandowski's Take on Lamine Yamal's World Cup Performance
Robert Lewandowski has seen Lamine Yamal at full throttle. And, in his eyes, the World Cup in the United States was not it.
The former Barcelona striker, now starting over in MLS with Chicago Fire, offered a candid assessment of the teenager’s tournament, stressing that the brightest version of Yamal still belongs to an earlier chapter of his short career.
“Honestly, no, we didn't [see his best this tournament],” Lewandowski told ESPN, when asked if the World Cup had showcased Yamal at his peak. For him, the standard was set long before this summer. “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.”
Why Yamal never hit top gear
There was context, and plenty of it. Yamal arrived at the World Cup undercooked, returning from injury and short of rhythm. Lewandowski, who watched from afar after Poland failed to qualify, underlined just how hard that is for any player, let alone a teenager still learning the demands of elite football.
“He's still young, he came to the World Cup after injury and he didn't play for like eight weeks,” Lewandowski explained. “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.”
That schedule would drain even the most seasoned professional. Yet Yamal still left a mark.
“But he showed really good quality,” Lewandowski said, pointing to the dynamic within Luis de la Fuente’s squad. “The Spain players and the team helped Lamine and Lamine also helped the whole team. I think that this cooperation was perfect.”
A young winger searching for his sharpest touch, carried and encouraged by a group that trusted him, and in turn lifting them with flashes of his talent. Not his ceiling, Lewandowski insists, but a reminder of what is coming.
Backing Spain over Messi’s Argentina
From his vantage point, with no national team involvement and no emotional stake in the tournament, Lewandowski still found himself drawn into the drama of the final. And when Spain met Argentina, his allegiance was clear.
He leaned toward the familiar.
“I know a lot of players from Spain and I spent so much time in Barcelona with them, so I supported them a lot,” he said.
The choice meant backing old team-mates over a global icon he also knows well. Lionel Messi might have been the emotional centre of Argentina’s run, but Lewandowski’s bond with Spain’s core proved stronger.
“Of course, I know from Argentina personally only Leo, but I know that he won the last World Cup,” he added. “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.”
His satisfaction at Spain’s triumph went beyond personal friendships. It was also about timing and potential.
“I was happy because I know they were ready to win the World Cup,” Lewandowski said. “They are very young and the future is in front of them.”
Yamal sits at the heart of that future. Not yet at his best, according to a man who shared a dressing room with him, but already a World Cup winner with room to grow.
New paths: Yamal back to Barça, Lewandowski to MLS
Once the celebrations and criticism fade, the work starts again. For Yamal, that means a return to Barcelona with a clear objective: rebuild his body, sharpen his game, and climb back toward the level Lewandowski remembers from two seasons ago.
The teenager will report back to a club that still expects him to be a cornerstone of its next era, with a full pre-season and a new campaign offering the chance to reconnect with his peak form rather than chase it on the fly.
Lewandowski’s own path has taken him across the Atlantic. The 35-year-old has begun a new chapter with Chicago Fire, making his debut against Inter Miami CF and immediately setting the tone for what he wants this move to be.
“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,” he said.
One career surges upward, still forming its shape. Another reinvents itself in a new league. Both, in very different ways, will define how much of Yamal’s “best version” the football world gets to see in the seasons ahead.
