Pundit sacked after Lamine Yamal slur

Stuart Telford

• 13 Apr 2024 14:30 BST
• 3 min read

Spain-based pundit and former player German Burgos has been fired by Movistar after a racist and classist slur aimed at Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal.

Yamal, 16, has burst onto the scene with Barcelona, and started as they beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 in the Champions League on Wednesday.

But as he was warming up before the game, Burgos said on Spanish TV station Movistar that "If football doesn't work out for him, he can end up [working] at a traffic light," in allusion to those that ask stopped drivers for money.

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Movistar moved quickly to condemn the comments, while PSG and Barca both declined to give the channel any interviews after the game.

Burgos, the former Argentina goalkeeper who was previously Diego Simeone's assistant manager at Atletico Madrid, issued a public apology after, saying he "wished [he] had the ability this kid has."

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) March 12, 2024

Burgos: 'football unites!'

He later added on Instagram: "Football unites everything and everyone. That is why it is the best sport, because it does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion, disability, age or sexual orientation. This is what I believe in!"

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At 16 years, eight months and eight days of age, Yamal - who is of Moroccan and Equatorial Guinean descent - became the youngest player ever to feature in a Champions League quarter-final.

He was handed his Barca debut almost exactly a year ago, and has 10 direct goal-contributions from 29 La Liga appearances this season.

He is valued at €44.8 million by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, although he is among the last players Barca, who remain €1.2 billion in debt, would be willing to cash in on.

SciSports, FootballTransfers' official data partner, tags his potential at 121.4, which is excess of prior wonderkid Ansu Fati (120.9) and Brazilian gem Vitor Roque (118.6) whom the club paid Athletico Paranaense €40m for in January.