Lamine Yamal, Spain's golden gem fixing dances on the pitch

By McCreadie Andias 

Spain's Euro Victory Against England on Sunday saw Lamine Yamal become the youngest player to win the tournament which also saw him crowned the best young player. 

Yamal was sensation all along Spain's journey from the Group stages to the Knockout rounds providing four assists including one at the Finals, No player has created more chances or big chances. He also sits in the top 10 for shots and dribbles. 

Yamal was excellent against Georgia, Croatia, Italy and the hosts, produced a sensational equalising goal to inspire Spain's semi-final victory over France.The goal made him the youngest player to score at the tournament or world cup being 16 at the moment, beating a record previously held by Brazil legend Pele.

All this added up to his stunning breakthrough season with Barcelona which burgeoned his reputation as a key player for the team. 

Just 17 yeard old today and earning his first title for the country, He has earned him self an early name at the history charts being the youngest player ever to assist at the Euros.

He is also the youngest player ever to feature in el Clásico and the Youngest player ever to score in La Liga game, the youngest player ever to assist in Barça’s shirt and the youngest player ever in Barcelona’s history to reach 50 official games wearing the Blaugrana shirt.

As if it's not daunting enough, Yamal is also the youngest player ever to feature in an official UEFA Champions League direct knockout match, the youngest player ever player to score a brace in La Liga history, of course in Barcelona shirt again and the youngest player ever to reach top three podium of the Golden Boy, already positioned one year ago.

He is not just playing but starring. What he is doing is unprecedented. At the same age, an age at which Yamal has racked up 51 senior appearances for Barcelona and won 13 caps for Spain, six of them at a major tournament, Lionel Messi was yet to even make his competitive senior debut.

Before he was fast-tracked into Barcelona’s first team and the Spanish national side, Yamal had to conquer the jump from cadete to juvenil in the club’s La Masia academy.

“A gigantic step,” is how Oscar Lopez, a former Barcelona player himself who has spent the last three years as coach of Barcelona’s Juvenil A side, or U19s, puts it at an interview. 

Yamal, a Barcelona player since he was seven, had already been identified as a rising star. But at 15, and already playing up an age group, much would depend on how he handled his promotion from the U16s to the U19s at the start of the 2022/23 season.

The parallels between Messi and Yamal were already unavoidable, but the emergence of a legendary photograph - and the unlikely nature of its origins - takes the connection to a whole other level.

In 2007, Yamal's family won the chance to have their six-month-old baby be part of a photoshoot with a Barcelona player for a calendar that was being made to raise money for charities.

Coincidentally, Messi, 20 at the time and in the early stages of his Barcelona career, was the player chosen for Yamal.

Joan Monfort was the photographer that day, but it was only recently, like the rest of us, that he discovered what he had been a part of.

Had it not been for Mounir Nasraoui, the teenage star's father, posting the photographs on social media, the images may have never come into public knowledge.

Following Argentina's Triumph at the Copa America, the world champions will take on Spain at the Finalissima 2025 to take place next year. This will provide a historic stage for Lamine Yamal to meet his Idol Leo Messi once again thus time in a competitive stage.

And As the world of football is wrapping up the goated stage of Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal is undoubtedly re-creating a new era that looks more stunning than what we have seen before.