Lamine Yamal makes history as Spain sink France to reach Euro 2024 final

11 months ago

Lamine Yamal, 16, became the youngest goalscorer in the Euro tournament’s history, advancing Spain to the Euro 2024 finals after contributing to Spain’s 2-1 victory against France in Munich on Tuesday. A note from Randal Kolo Muani from Kylian Mbappe’s cross in the ninth minute put France in the lead. However, Spain scored twice in the next four minutes after France’s opener to turn the game against a team that had given up once in their previous five tournament games.

Lamine Yamal, who turns 17 the day before Sunday’s final in Berlin against the Netherlands or England, equalised with an incredible long-range shot that curled past Mike Maignan’s flying hands and into the top corner. After a deflection off Jules Kounde, Dani Olmo skillfully collected a loose ball and fired a low effort into the net to give Spain the lead on the 25th-minute mark. Once they took the lead, Spain controlled the midfield. They usually held possession instead of attacking on the counter, which allowed them to protect their goals and win.

Spain, the reigning champions, are one win away from securing a record-breaking fourth title and have become the first team to win six games at a Euros. France, finalists in three of the last four international competitions, will be questioned about why they could not generate any early pressure despite having an abundance of attacking talent.

Lamine Yamal evens France’s goal and leads Spain to victory.

Before the game, France had only three goals, of which a French player scored none through open play. In response, head coach Didier Deschamps benched striker Antoine Griezmann in favour of Ousmane Dembele. Four minutes into the game, Yamal provided the game’s opening opportunity by lofting a curling cross to an unmarked Fabian Ruiz, who headed over from close range.

Four minutes later, after Mbappe glided down the left wing and attempted a replica of Yamal’s cross, Kolo Muani’s header gave France the lead. The young talent proved his critics wrong with exceptional talent during his fight for the Euro final.

Kolo Muani’s opening goal resulted from a mistake by youngsters Aymeric Laporte and Marc Cucurella. Still, the pre-match suspicions were against Spain’s veterans Jesus Navas, 38, and Nacho, 34, who took the place of suspended Dani Carvajal and Robin Le Normand. Spain appeared to be losing the match after France’s goal, but the game’s youngest player pulled off a brilliant move to tie the score.

Lamine Yamal, who had collected the ball well outside the area, cut inside, glanced at the goal and then unleashed a perfect curling strike into the upper left corner. With the goal, Yamal—who has already recorded three assists at Euro 2024—broke the record for the youngest goal scorer in the competition’s history by one and a half years.

Lamine Yamal emotional after setting a record at the 2024 Euros

Lamine, emotional after scoring his goal as youngest ever in the history of the Euros. pic.twitter.com/4f9voZlPiL

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 9, 2024