Welcome to the world of Lamine Yamal, Spain’s 16-year-old sensation

Lamine Yamal became the youngest player in Euros history when starting for Spain in their victory over Croatia - Reuters/Fabian Bimmer

He is the boy who plays football like a man and will be one of the biggest threats to hosts Germany in Friday’s mouthwatering quarter-final with Spain in Stuttgart. But, for all his composure and maturity on the pitch, there are reminders of the childhood Lamine Yamal has only recently left behind.

Take his beloved scarf, for example, the one whose smell would remind him of his mum, dad and the family dog and which a young Yamal would go to sleep clutching. He was inseparable from it, sometimes seen sniffing it in class at school or before he went out on to the pitch.

His mum, Sheila Ebana, would eventually tire of it and threw it out so Yamal instead found a blanket to fill the void and which he would comfort-wrap himself in.

These days he is more likely to relax playing Fifa or Fortnite on his PlayStation 5 with his cousin Moha. He rates himself an eight out of 10 at the football video game. Or watching box sets – he is on Breaking Bad at the moment having just finished Baby Reindeer, or at least he is when he can peel himself away from binge-watching manga and anime, the hugely popular Japanese animations.

When he donned his Beats headphones in the home dressing room at the RheinEnergieStadion on Sunday night before helping Spain come from behind to take apart Georgia in the latest demonstration of his dizzying talent, there is every chance he was listening to Myke Towers. The Puerto Rican rapper is a particular favourite and helps to focus and energise him before games. When relaxing with friends, it tends to be one of two other Puerto Rican artists, Mora or Dei V. In the car with his proud dad, they usually settle on Eminem or 50 Cent.

Welcome to the world of a 16-year-old boy wonder, the youngest debutant in Barcelona’s storied history, the youngest player to ever score for Spain and now the youngest player in the 64-year history of the Euros. Yamal does not turn 17 until a day before the final on July 14, which helps to explain why King Felipe VI of Spain put his head in his hands in disbelief after checking the player’s age when he visited the squad in their dressing room after a comfortable 1-0 victory over Italy. But, if Spain are to get there – and Luis de la Fuente’s side certainly look the part – they will need Yamal to keep wreaking havoc down the right flank like he has been doing all tournament.

His sublime, bending 20 yard pass from the wide, inside right channel to set up Dani Carvajal for Spain’s third goal on a history making appearance in their opening 3-0 win over Croatia was followed by another impressive debut against Italy. On Sunday, Georgia could just not live with Yamal, or his friend and fellow tormentor Nico Williams on the opposite wing. Yamal set up Spain’s important second goal with another of those gorgeously clipped crosses that was on a plate for Fabian Ruiz to head home from six yards in the 4-1 win, one of six chances the youngster created on a night when he was virtually unplayable. No player under 21 has ever fashioned more in a Euros knockout game.

Hailing the impact of Yamal and Williams, Spain’s midfield metronome Rodri suggested afterwards that the exuberance and energy that comes with the innocence and naivety of youth was proving “contagious” among the squad. Germany will have their work cut out trying to stymie the pair.

Yet not everyone is overly happy at the onus that has been placed on someone so young, even if Yamal seems to be taking it all in his stride and having the time of his life. Bojan Krkic was just 17 years and 19 days when he made his debut for Barcelona in 2007 and found the pressure intolerable. He was called up for Spain at Euro 2008 but pulled out, declaring himself to be “physically and emotionally shattered”. So Krkic, who would later end up at Stoke City, knows a thing or two about the pitfalls of asking too much too soon of young players and he was not trying to be a killjoy when he suggested before this tournament that it had been a “big mistake” for Spain to call up Yamal.

He feels the same way about Yamal’s 17-year-old Barcelona team-mate, Pau Cubarsi, potentially playing in the Olympics with Spain this summer. “There are many people in many areas who have to understand that they are children, players who are developing,” Krkic said. “We all have to be aware of the great wear and tear it entails after the season, which already involves playing many games.”

Yamal and Spain need not look as far back as Krkic’s experience for a cautionary tale, though. The nine injuries – eight of them muscular – that resulted in Yamal’s Barcelona and Spain team-mate, Pedri, missing 85 games over the past three seasons should serve as the biggest warning sign of all as club and country bid to manage their latest prodigy’s playing time in ways that ensure an extraordinary talent is not mishandled.

Pedri was played into the ground during his breakthrough year, culminating in the Euros semi-final and Olympic silver in 2021 - Reuters/Stuart Franklin

Pedri played an unacceptable 73 games in his breakthrough campaign when he was called up for both the Euros and Olympics in 2021 before his body broke down.

Yamal will be spared the Olympics this summer, which is something, and there have been concerted moves over the past year to strengthen a naturally impressive physique. He has put on 7kg in muscle mass since pre-season. He has also grown over 2cm in that time, and has seemed completely unfazed by the more cynical attempts to cut this mesmeric dribbler down to size. Sixteen year olds do not take free-kicks in teams with designs on winning the big trophies if they do not possess something special and only a fine save from Georgia’s outstanding goalkeeper, Giorgi Mamardashvili, denied him his first goal of the tournament from one such set-piece.

Back in Rocafonda, the neighbourhood in the town of Mataro 40 minutes drive up the coast from Barcelona where Yamal grew up, they burst with pride at the youngster’s meteoric rise. To Yamal, it is better known as “the 304” – the last three digits of the area’s postcode – and provides the inspiration behind his goal celebration.

Yamal's '304' celebration refers to his home neighbourhood's postcode - Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo

Arms crossed, three fingers raised on his left hand with the index finger and thumb forming an ‘0’ and four fingers raised on his right hand – 304 – it has become what he calls his “signature gesture”, an idea dreamt up by a friend after a kickabout one night. They will hope he gets the chance to perform it against Germany.

Although born and raised in Barcelona, Yamal is fiercely proud of his family’s roots. His mum hails from Equatorial Guinea and his dad, Mounir Nasraoui, from Morocco, which explains why he has a flag of both countries on his Adidas F50 boots, the same ones worn by his idol Lionel Messi with whom he is already drawing – unhelpful – comparisons.

They separated when Yamal was very young, which saw him split his time between Rocafonda and Granollers further north. But both remain central figures in his life. As he got older, he would use his treasured T-16 train pass to get around. His mum’s rice with peanut sauce remains his favourite dish and, on the Moroccan side, he cannot get enough of his grandma’s pastries. He visits both countries as often as he can to see wider family.

You do not have to go far in Rocafonda to get a feel for Yamal fever. At the entrance of a small bakery run by his uncle, Abdul, and plethora of cousins, there is a mural of the player in his Barcelona shirt, surrounded by flags of Morocco, Equatorial Guinea and Spain.

His name now reverberates far beyond the neighbourhood in which he grew up, although it is clear this level-headed teenager is refusing to get ahead of himself.

Yamal told Spanish GQ in an interview this month that the same people who trumpet him as the next Messi are liable to write him off in the next breath.

Most, though, are just marvelling at a burgeoning talent, one with Germany next in his sights.

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