Lugging her shopping as she hobbles out of the butchers, Fatima could easily be mistaken for any other ‘abuela’ in Mataro.
But the 74-year-old, who has lived in this humble Barcelona town for decades, is preparing to have dinner with her grandson Lamine Yamal.
At just 18 years of age, he happens to be one of the world’s biggest football stars – who this week became the centre of a media storm over his controversial coming-of-age birthday party.
It was revealed that the bash, held at an exclusive villa in nearby Sitges, employed five dwarves for entertainment and allegedly paid ‘it girls with blonde hair and large breasts’ to attend.
According to family and friends in Mataro, where Yamal grew up, the story has been sensationalised and has no reflection on who the youngster is as a person.
‘He’s a very good boy, very calm, who loves his family and loves his friends,’ Fatima told the Spanish Eye while heading home with her shopping.
Speaking on the streets of Mataro, she said she was ‘very proud’ of Yamal, revealing that he still visits her once a week despite his fame and fortune.
A day earlier, Fatima had stood side-by-side with the wonderkid as he signed his new contract with Barcelona and gained the iconic number 10 shirt.
Speaking on the controversy, she added: ‘We had a lovely family meal for his birthday and then he went out for the night for his party, I don’t know anything about that.
‘People are saying many things that are not true, people like to talk, but he is a good kid.
‘I am very proud of him and he still visits me every week to have lunch or dinner.’
Fatima’s sentiments were echoed by close family friend Juan Muñoz, who has known Yamal’s father for over a decade.
Speaking from the bar he owns in Mataro, he told the Spanish Eye that the dwarf backlash was ‘absurd’.
After photos of the entertainers arriving at the party villa emerged, the Association of People with Achondroplasia and Other Skeletal Dysplasias with Dwarfism (ADEE), said it would be taking legal action against the Barcelona striker to ‘safeguard the dignity of people with disabilities.’
The Spanish Ministry of Social Rights then asked the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ombudsman, and the Office for Combating Hate Crimes to investigate whether the disability law was violated.
Muñoz said: ‘Lamine’s team hired an events company for a party package and the dwarves came with that, it’s not like he specifically asked for dwarves to be hired.
‘The family ignores the media anyway, they don’t care about that kind of stuff, it’s all tabloid nonsense.
‘The dwarves also want and need this kind of work, they have come out and said it themselves.’
He added: ‘He is spending his money and having a good time, like anyone would in his position, like I would myself.
‘They just wanted to throw a good party and for everyone to enjoy themselves.’
The El Cordobes bar was visited by Yamal himself last year, when he signed one of his shirts that is hanging in a frame on the wall.
Muñoz said: ‘Yamal’s father told him to visit me and sign the shirt, he told me it was to say ‘thank you’ to me for helping him with his son over the years.’
Muñoz said he often lent money to Yamal’s father so that his son could catch the train to football training.
Even today, he collects dozens of letters and photos from fans each week, which he gets signed and sent back.
‘I take them to Lamine’s cousin, uncle or father, they take them to him and he signs them and then I send them back,’ he explained.
He added: ‘Lamine is a good kid and is actually very shy in person, he appears more confident in the media because he has been trained for it.
‘When he comes back here it can be crazy because if one kid sees him, suddenly the whole neighbourhood knows and gets swarmed by fans. He is like a hero here, of course.’
The group of dwarves who were hired to entertain at the party said the ADEE does not represent them ‘or speak on our behalf.’
They wrote: ‘As adults with achondroplasia, commonly known as dwarfism, we have our own voice, our own judgment, and full capacity to decide about our personal and professional lives.
‘We are not part of this association, nor have we been consulted or asked for our opinion before making public accusations that directly affect us.
‘No one can automatically claim to represent an entire group without first listening to the people they claim to defend.
‘The fight for the dignity and rights of people with disabilities cannot be done at the expense of silencing our voices or deciding for us from a paternalistic perspective.’
Juan Alberto Duaso, who drafted the statment, has been working as an entertainer for well over a decade.
He told the Spanish Eye that the days following the Yamal backlash had not been ‘not been easy’.
He said he and the group who attended the party consider the matter ‘closed’ after releasing their statement.
‘Despite the ADEE violating our right to honour,’ he added.
