Julian Nagelsmann said Germany weren't going to kick him out of his socks, but, well, they were going to put their foot in. Adrien Rabiot promised that they were going to take him out of his comfort zone, apply the pressure. He looked good, and there was eulogy implicit in the Frenchman's words, but if he was going to beat France, he would have to "do more". And so Lamine Yamal did that, and there, curling in an absurd shot that, still 16 but not scared, took Spain into the final and made him the youngest ever goalscorer at a Euros or a World Cup, ahead of some guy called Edson Arantes do Nascimento.
That and all this. At the end of the semi-final, Rodri, the Spain midfielder who is something like the Spain manager, said he had taken Lamine Yamal aside and congratulated him. "I am very, very proud of him," Rodri said.
"People will hold on to the goal, that sudden starring moment from a kid who is 16. And you have to have enormous quality to be able to do that, and doing it in a semifinal speaks to the player he is, the incredible future he has. Very few players can do that," Rodri insisted.
"But I hold on to his defensive commitment, the support he gave teammates, how he closed off spaces, the oxygen he gave us. How complete his game was ... and I told him that personally... chapeau." The first thing Lamine Yamal did, after 110 seconds, was bring down a long diagonal, exchange passes with Jesús Navas, and dash away from Rabiot and Théo Hernandez.
Denne historien er fra July 11, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra July 11, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian.
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