Lamine Yamal made football history in Munich on Tuesday. But the 16-year-old is modest afterwards and wants to go for the European Championship title with Spain.
10.07.2024, 12:29
10.07.2024, 13:34
SDA
The hero of the evening is a long time coming. The catacombs of the Munich Arena are bustling with traffic late on Tuesday evening. The team buses of the Spanish and French teams are waiting in the parking lot next door, and most of the protagonists of this European Championship semi-final are heading straight there. Past the cameras and microphones, past the shouts of the media, who usually fail miserably in their attempts to get a few snatches of a footballer's words.
On this hot and humid evening, which is only cooled down by a brief thunderstorm well after midnight, the players of the Spanish national team clearly prefer to stand behind the lectern, which always lends a slightly statesmanlike air to this actually banal exchange about a football match.
Playing to win
The first speaker for "La Roja" is Dani Vivian. The Bilbao defender says: "We are where we wanted to be at the start of this tournament." Then comes Rodri, the Manchester City midfield strategist, who says: "We're not here just to play a final. We also want to win it." The naturalness with which the Spaniards set their sights on the title after their deserved 2:1 victory over France is a sign of the self-confidence that has grown in Luis de la Fuente's team over the course of the six games in Germany. "We play our football," says Rodri, "not to please anyone or to convince anyone of our qualities. But to win."
It is a pragmatic view that, in its sobriety, does not really fit in with an evening on which historic footballing events took place. Not because Spain reached a European Championship final for the sixth time and will have the chance to win their fourth title in Berlin on Sunday. But because of what happened in the 21st minute, the "stroke of genius" by Lamine Yamal, as his coach described it.
The coach's appeal
The FC Barcelona attacker, who turns 17 on Saturday, is the youngest goalscorer in the history of the European Championship after his wonderful flick from the edge of the box. "He's a phenomenon," said Vivian, while Rodri added: "Congratulations to him. I'm very proud of him and his impressive performance."
With his first appearance at this tournament, Yamal had already become the youngest player to play in a European Championship final. The praise and records are flying at the teenager, who grew up in a suburb of Barcelona. This is another reason why it is important for coach de la Fuente to appeal to the humility of his young star. "It's important that he keeps his feet on the ground. Then we'll still have a lot of fun with him."
It is 0:22 when the much-praised player steps up to the lectern. His appearance lasts 105 seconds, meticulously timed by the eager staff of the Royal Spanish Football Association. His mischievous laugh makes his braces sparkle in the spotlight. "The most important thing is that we're in the final," he says. And: "I'm very happy that I was able to help the team." These are sentences that could not have been better dictated by a media-savvy veteran.
