Wonderkid, Lamine Yamala, was last night voted man of the match in the first semi-finals of the Euro 2024 between Spain and France. Despite the fact that he is the youngest player at the tournament, he continues to terrorize defense at the tournament. He scored in the 2-1 win for Spain against France.

However, his brilliant performance raises the question of who he really is.

Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana (born July 13, 2007) is a Spanish professional footballer from Catalonia who plays as a right winger for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. He is regarded as one of the best young talents in the world. He turns 17 this weekend.

Early life

Born in Esplugues de Llobregat, Catalonia, to a Moroccan father and an Equatoguinean mother, Yamal grew up in Granollers and Mataró. When Yamal was seven years old, his family moved to Barcelona, where he joined FC Barcelona’s youth academy.

Youth career

Growing up through the youth ranks of La Masia, Yamal was soon viewed as one of the academy’s best prospects. Whilst added to the Juvenil A team—already above his age grade—for the 2022–23 season, Yamal was selected by Xavi to train with the first team along with other youngsters in early September 2022. While still yet to sign his first professional contract with the club, he appeared to be one of the academy members to most impress the coach.

2023–24: First team breakthrough

Yamal made his first team debut on April 29, 2023, replacing Gavi in the 83rd minute of a 4–0 victory against Real Betis in La Liga, in which he registered a shot on target against former Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo and became not only the fifth youngest player in La Liga’s history at 15 years, 9 months, and 16 days old, but also the youngest to appear for Barcelona’s first team since the 15-year-old Armando Sagi in 1922, over a century before. He won his first title with Barça on May 14, 2023, having been part of the squad that won the 2022–23 La Liga.

At 16 years of age during the season in La Liga, Yamal became the youngest starter for Barcelona, the youngest player to record an assist, the youngest to score for Barcelona and in La Liga, the youngest player to feature for Barcelona in El Clásico, and the youngest player to score a brace in La Liga and first player ever to achieve this record under the age of 17. He also became the youngest player to register more than 10 goal contributions in La Liga at 16 years and 213 days. In the Champions League, Yamal became the second youngest player to feature in the competition (behind Youssoufa Moukoko), the youngest player named in a starting line-up, and the youngest player to play in the knockout phase.

Credit: Wikipedia