2024-07-13 17:00:23
ROMA. Happy birthday, Lamine Yamal. The Barcelona winger who helped Spain reach the European Championship final with his spectacular goal turns 17 and on Sunday 14 July in Berlin he will cross paths with England.
More than his innate technical talent, what is striking about this teenager is the boldness and ease with which he expresses it on such an important stage. Where did he absorb this ‘impudence’ when he has the ball at his feet? “From the street, from playing with friends. That’s where looking in one direction and passing the ball in the other comes from. That’s where you learn,” Yamal explains in an interview with Marca.
In which he also talks about the messages he is receiving from those same friends from the Rocafonda neighborhood: “They are going crazy”. After the match with France “they told me that in my street, in Mataró, everyone shouted my name“. Will they come for the final? “Some will, but others won’t be able to. I’ll try to bring some.”
The buzz that his plays are causing in Spain and beyond reaches him muffled because “we are isolated from everything that happens and is said. And I think it’s better this way”. Such a long retreat can be tough for a boy, but he assures that he manages himself “very well. Here there is everything we need. Also, we do something that would be impossible in Spain: you go out for a walk and people don’t say anything to you”.
Even though he is a teenager, he has not felt the burden of having to compete with established players: “Everyone treats me very well, not like a 16, 17 year old, but like someone older”. Who asked for the shirt of a, until now, sixteen year old, during this European Championship? “Mbappé asked me for it, in the locker room and Chiesa when we faced Italy”. To celebrate, he will wait until tomorrow night and, he repeats, “I told my mother that if we win I don’t want anything as a gift. I only ask to be able to celebrate the cup in Madrid, with my teammates. That’s all. It could be a crazy day – Lamine’s imagination runs wild -, with the fans going crazy with joy to welcome us at the airport”.
But first, they have to beat England. To do that, “we have to continue as we did against Germany or France. Staying ourselves, keeping possession of the ball to control the game at all times. I think we are the best at that and no one can stop us if we can do that. We are seeing that as a team there is no one at the level of Spain. In the end, that intensity is the key.”
Yet the Roja arrived in Germany accompanied by skepticism: “Even before the European Championship we said that we deserved trust and that we could be among the favorites, even if people didn’t think so. They said that we wouldn’t be among the top five. It took a while, but everyone who gets on the boat will be welcome” he jokes now that the finish line is near. The dances of Lamine and Nico Williams after the goals are making waves on social media, but Yamal becomes superstitious: “Have we already prepared some? I don’t want to talk before, we’ll see…”.
2024-07-13 17:00:23