Lamine Yamal scores twice as Barcelona beats Girona 4-1 to start La Liga season with 5 straight wins

Lamine Yamal leads Barcelona to fifth straight win with two goals, maintaining top spot in Spanish league.

With two goals in less than 10 minutes, Lamine Yamal led Barcelona to its fifth straight victory at the start of the Spanish league season.

The teenager's double, plus second-half goals from Dani Olmo and Pedri, gave Barcelona a commanding 4-1 win at Catalan rival Girona on Sunday (September 15, 2024), keeping a four-point lead at the top.

Atletico Madrid kept pace by beating last-place Valencia 3-0 with goals from Antoine Griezmann and newly signed players Julián Álvarez and Conor Gallagher, while Real Madrid had won 2-0 at Real Sociedad on Saturday with goals from Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior.

Along with Atletico and Madrid, Villarreal was the other team four points behind Barcelona after winning 2-1 at Mallorca on Saturday.

“To help the team it's important to score the goals and to do whatever is needed,” Yamal said. “The first match after the international break is always complicated. Now we can start focusing on the match against Monaco (in the Champions League on Thursday).”

Yamal's goals on Sunday were his second and third of the season. The 17-year-old Spain international opened the scoring after stealing the ball from a defender and sending a close-range shot into the net in the 30th minute. He scored again in the 37th after picking up a loose ball inside the area.

Olmo's third goal since joining Barcelona this season came from a tight angle in the 47th, and Pedri sealed the easy victory with a goal from inside the area in the 64th.