The Day Lamine Yamal Toppled the Blue Fortress

The miracle of the boy Lamine Yamal

It has been a long time since we have seen a high school player play such good football in his first major tournament. It is only a long time since the great Pele, who at 17 won the 1958 World Cup with Brazil in Sweden.

Of course, there was only one Pele and it is hard to compare Yamal to the late Brazilian legend, but at 17, the boy did many extraordinary things. It was his first goal of the tournament, a dream goal from outside the box. It came after Yamal had already provided three assists for his teammates at this EURO and was highly praised by the press. But this goal took him even further on the path to becoming a great player, because it was extremely important for Spain on their way to winning the EURO for the first time in 12 years.

His pace and excellent shooting, combined with the penetrating power of Nico Williams, saw France's most solid defence in the tournament collapse as it was breached twice in four first-half minutes by Spain's youth.

In the second half, the boy had another long-range dribble and shot, close to the range where he had found the net from Mike Maignan. The Spanish stands erupted in joy and chanted "Yamal Yamal". How could one sit idly by in front of such a great talent, who played a game of football that was mature and composed beyond his years? Luis de la Fuente's team, whose coach looked like a professor, played calmly and leisurely after taking the lead, calmly clearing every French attack. Spain's defence, which had lost two players to suspension, was like a black hole that swallowed everything and exposed France's attacking problems.

Kylian Mbappe took off his mask and the French attack was also stripped for much of the match. They scored, but they also fell behind and their helplessness, as in previous matches, showed for a reason. No one scored an own goal for them. No situations to call for a penalty. It was a complete helplessness. When Olivier Giroud came on, among the French audience sitting in the stands, there were whistles in the stands. Up to 3 of the 4 players with the most goals in the history of the French team were on the field at the end of the second half, Giroud, Mbappe and Griezmann. All they created was a round zero.

Before the match, a French colleague told me: "France will win and reach the final with a score of 0-0". Was that a way to laugh at the French style of play or to praise the boring pragmatism that Didier Deschamps applied to the Blues? After all, in a match where France scored first and pushed the match into an open game, they let a kid under 17 make a mess, while their biggest star, Kylian Mbappe, apart from the precise pass for Kolo Muani to head in for France, played like a shadow to the 38-year-old veteran Jesus Navas and did not improve much after Navas was injured. Before the match, in the press conference, Deschamps also told a reporter: "If you feel bored, you better watch something else. This is a completely different EURO for all of us".

France-Spain was clearly the most exciting match of the EURO so far, and also the best match France has played in the tournament. Unfortunately, in such a match of their lives, France were sent home by a boy not yet 17 years old.