Former River Plate, Argentina, and Atlético Madrid goalkeeper German Burgos made a comment during Barcelona’s 3-2 away win over PSG in the UEFA Champions League, Burgos stated in regard to Lamine Yamal, “Look at the quality, look at the touches from Lamine Yamal. If he doesn’t do well, he ends up at a traffic light.”
The insinuation is that Yamal would be poor, and almost immediately on social media many took offense to the comment, alluding to Yamal’s race and ethnicity,
Yamal was born in Spain but his parents are from Morocco and Equatorial Guinea.
Movistar Plus+, the broadcaster felt the effects of the comment as Barcelona and PSG players refused to give post-match interviews after they found out what was said during the broadcast.
German Burgos defends himself after backlash
The 54-year-old spoke to Radio Marca and tried to explain his comments, “It was about the talent and skill of the football player. People haven’t heard the complete audio. As the audio continues, it’s an affectionate tone. Furthermore, I break into humor. The company has to take action, nothing happens. I still use Movistar, I’m not going to change. I left with two producers from the program and told them ‘I’m stepping aside.'”
‘They call me ‘Mono (Monkey). My nickname breaks everything that has been said and expressed.’
“(The Press) have thrown urine at me and I told them ‘I’ve already tried the golden shower, please insult me’. There are people who don’t know me. The goalkeeper can’t leave me. He is always facing these situations. There are people who don’t know me and may take it as they are told.‘”
During the era of Burgos as a player these types of insults were common when referring to a player, now certain networks try to keep it more professional, while others throw things out the window, Burgos seems to have said the wrong thing on the former.