At not even 17 years old, Lamine Yamal is shaking up the football world. With his recklessness and speed, the teenager also represents a cultural change in Spain's national team.
20.06.2024, 05:30
20.06.2024, 15:12
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- Lamine Yamal is 16 years old and will be playing on the big stage at the European Championships.
- Spain's national coach Luis de la Fuente says: "Yamal impresses everyone."
- Yamal will face Italy with Spain on Thursday evening.
Sometimes, albeit very rarely, Lamine Yamal is just an ordinary 16-year-old schoolboy. Last Sunday was such a day, at least a little. While his teammates enjoyed a rest after the first game in Spain's European Championship quarters in the tranquil Black Forest, Yamal pored over his school books.
He also sent homework to his teachers during the European Championships. "I'm having online lessons and it's going well," the tenth grader, who is working on his secondary school diploma, told the Spanish portal "AS". "I hope the teacher doesn't fail me."
Vonlanthen's record in danger
In any case, he passed his first test on the pitch with flying colors. In the 3:0 win against Croatia, Yamal created a lot of momentum on the right wing, set up the 2:0 and could have scored his first European Championship goal with a little more cold blood or finishing luck.
Johan Vonlanthen's record from 2004 is therefore in serious doubt. At 18 years and 141 days, the Swiss is the youngest goalscorer at a European Championship final since he scored Switzerland's consolation goal in the 3-1 defeat against France. Still. Yamal is a year and a half younger and will get another chance to score his third goal for the "Furia roja".
He is also the most visible sign of the change in culture and system of the former Tikitaka kings. Pedri, Nico Williams, both 21, and Yamal are whirling around in midfield, while captain Alvaro Morata, surprisingly often criticized in Spain, is a real goal scorer up front.
With 7 in the Barcelona academy
Yamal, whose full name is Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana, learned to play football at the La Masia academy, just like his famous FC Barcelona predecessors. Born in Esplugues de Llobregat, Catalonia, to a Moroccan father and a mother from the small Central African state of Equatorial Guinea, he joined La Masia at the age of seven. There he rocketed through the age groups faster than anyone before him, making his debut in the top Spanish league at the age of 15.
Spain national team coach Luis de la Fuente is trying to shift the focus away from his prodigy. "We don't need to talk so much about one player right now," he said after the Croatia game, but still had to admit: "Yamal impresses everyone." In Spain, and increasingly in the rest of the football world, people are not stingy with superlatives. "Baby on board", wrote "Marca" about the winger, describing his assist as "pure gold".
Italians are warned
Even the UEFA President is among the fans. According to Aleksander Ceferin, the 16-year-old is "the best young player in the world and he could soon be the best of them all." Even the opposing camp is impressed. Ahead of Thursday's clash in the second group game, Italy defender Alessandro Buongiorno says: "Yamal can hurt us a lot, we have to work together to limit his actions."
Lamine Yamal, meanwhile, is on cloud nine. "The future is now," the student posted on Instagram with a picture of him and Pedri. He told the media with braces in his mouth: "It's a dream to play the European Championships at 16." And if he has his way, he would still like to be there at 17. He celebrates his birthday the day before the final on July 14 in Berlin.
