Euro 2024: Yamal's Spain beat France 2-1, La Roja through to final News & Photos

Spain qualified for the Euro 2024 final after beating France 2-1 in the first semi-final.

Scoring in the 21st minute with a masterpiece (after a dribble, a curling shot from 25 metres went to the “seven” to the right of Maignan), Lamine Yamal became, at 16 years and 362 days, the youngest scorer in the final stage in the history of the European Football Championship, a record that was taken from the Swiss Johan Vonlanthen (18 years and 141 days), who also scored against France, but twenty years earlier, in the 2004 European Championship. Yamal’s goal was the 1-1 goal, then Spain’s to end the first 45 minutes with a 2-1 lead.

life

the match
(Written by Alessandro Castellani)
In the best match of this European Championship so far, the team that has played the best throughout the tournament, Spain, has reached the final. They have finally beaten a convincing version of France, with the exception of the “star” Mbappé who did not appear at the start until Kolo Muani gave the assist for the 0-1, thanks to the talent of the new football phenomenon Lamine Yamal, whose light will likely illuminate the coming years of this most popular sport in the world. That little boy, just a few months old, who in 2007 was bathed by a twenty-year-old Lionel Messi for a charity calendar, who at eight years old entered the Camp Nou pitch erected by the hand of Sergio Ramos before the Clásico, has become a phenomenon, like Messi also wearing the Blaugrana colours, and now he is making Spain happy.

It is the new man, or rather the boy, who has been reinvented with his teammates and tiki-taka, with more verticality, by coach De la Fuente, and has taken Spain where they deserve, to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to play for the title against England or Holland. Lamine Yamal, who turns 17 on Saturday, has won the final in Monaco and also the honour of becoming the youngest scorer in the history of the European Championships. It happened in the 21st minute of this match when France were ahead due to an early header by Kolo Muani. The number 19 of La Roja evaded Rabiot with magic and then unleashed a curling shot from 25 metres that stuck in the ‘seven’ area to the right of Maignan. With this wonderful goal, the ball broke a speed record dating back 20 years ago, when it was the Swiss of Colombian origin Johan Vonlanthen who had hurt France at Euro 2004, who were just over 18 years old that day. Spain, riding a wave of enthusiasm for the “Bimbo de Oro” achievement, continued to produce glimpses of great football, and just four minutes later they doubled the lead through Dani Olmo.

The Spanish number 10 took Tchouameni out of the French penalty area with a sombrero and beat Maignan with a diagonal shot that ended up on goal even after it hit Kounde. Another proof of how those who start playing football in Spain are taught technique first, then the rest. On an evening in which Yamal overshadowed Mbappé, and in which the reclusive boy also had a teacher because he had to do his homework, France tried to raise their heads in the second half by relying on the sprints of 21-year-old Barcola, another talent, however, this evening he did not find teammates able to realize his initiatives on the wing. The same one in which, before his exit in the 13th minute of the second half, the veteran Jesus Navas played, who could be Yamal’s father given that at 38 years old, he is older than the father of the jewel who dragged Spain to the World Cup final with his friend Nico Williams and others. The applause from the Munich fans, including the French, after Yamal’s stoppage-time exit is the best memory of the evening a star was born.

My goal? I put the ball exactly where I wanted it.

“Thank you very much for the compliments you have given me, I am very happy to have qualified for the final but now the most important thing is missing, which is to win it.” Lamine Yamal said this after the European semi-final in which he led Spain to victory over France, with his 17th birthday on Saturday. At the end of the match, the boy approached the camera and made a “habala, habla” gesture with his hands as they say in Spain, in order to mock those who have talked too much. In the case of Yamal, it was Adrien Rabiot who said on the eve of the match that “if Lamine wants to play in the final, he will have to do more than he has done so far”. The jewel of Barcelona responded to him on the pitch, in the 21st minute, where Rabiot “drank” himself and then scored with a beautiful finish the Spanish goal to make it 1-1. “When I scored, we were going through a difficult moment – Yamal’s words -, I did not wish to score so quickly, but at that moment I put the ball exactly where it went in and that’s why I am very happy too.” “But now I try not to think about it too much – he adds -, I want to enjoy this moment and help the team, hopefully I can stay happy. Today I just didn’t like the booing from some of the fans in Cucurella. Now I want to win and win, and on Sunday I want to celebrate my birthday (which is Saturday) here in Germany with the whole team.”