How Spaniard Prodigy, Lamine Yamal Ended France Euro 2024 Runs

Barcelona’s largest contingent at Euro 2024 will play for the championship in Berlin on Sunday as Spain advanced to the title match thanks to a 2-1 win over France in Tuesday’s semi-final in Munich.

Lamine Yamal had a special night as the Barça teenager started and became the youngest scorer in major tournament history, and led the way as La Roja conquered the mighty French and ended Jules Kounde’s adventure with Les Bleus in Germany

FIRST HALF

Every Spain game in Euro 2024 has been very entertaining, and that continued to be the case in the opening period: 

La Roja went forward right away and Yamal almost recorded another assist just a couple of minutes in with a perfect cross that somehow ended with a missed header by Fabián Ruiz, and that miss was punished shortly after when a cross from Kylian Mbappé found Randal Kolo Muani at the far post for an easy header to put Les Bleus ahead in the 9th minute.

The French then decided to sit back and protect their advantage, which invited Spain to go forward even more and play their high-possession, high-pressing attacking style with confidence and patience. 

La Roja weren’t affected at all by going behind and used excellent movement from the front four to put France under pressure in the final third, and it didn’t take long for the Spanish comeback to happen.

And that turnaround came in a span of four minutes, first thanks to a stunning and historic goal by Lamine Yamal who scored a spectacular curler from outside the box that went in off the post and made the game all square, and Dani Olmo used a couple of world-class touches inside the box and fired off a shot that hit the foot of Jules Kounde and went into the net to put Spain ahead.

The rest of the half was a lot of fun, with France creating a lot of trouble with the pace of their front three when they broke the Spanish press, while La Roja remained a threat every time Yamal, Olmo and Nico Williams had the ball.

Somehow no other goals were scored, but the action was back and forth and breath-taking at times.

The halftime whistle came to give us all a chance to recover from a brilliant opening period, and Lamine and Spain were 45 minutes away from the title match while France had to throw more bodies forward to try and make a comeback of their own.

SECOND HALF

France didn’t start the second half with a lot of urgency, and created very little danger apart from a couple of crosses and set pieces that didn’t truly trouble Unai Simón in the Spanish goal.

After 15 minutes Didier Deschamps had seen enough, and made a triple change with Eduardo Camavinga, Antoine Griezmann and Bradley Barcola all coming on to try and add a different dynamic to the attack.

Spain responded to the French changes by taking control of the ball and trying to keep as much possession as possible to stop Les Bleus from creating any momentum with their substitutes, and for the next 15 minutes the plan worked as La Roja purposely moved the ball backwards and sideways and the back four remained free of trouble.

Then a succession of small mistakes at the back almost led to a Theo Hernández goal, and Spain all of a sudden got a wake-up call that they needed to try and score a third to ensure the victory.

Luis de la Fuente brought Mikel Merino and Mikel Oyarzabal off the bench to try and find that third goal, and Deschamps answered with Olivier Giroud in place of Ousmane Dembélé in search of a late equalizer.

The two teams traded huge chances in the final 10 minutes, with Yamal just missing the target with another beautiful strike from outside the box while Mbappé had a rare chance to have a run at his defender and got in great position inside the area only to send his shot way over the bar and into the stands.

Yamal’s incredible night ended late into stoppage time when the teenager was replaced by his Barça teammate Ferran Torres, and Spain looked to keep the ball, waste as much time as possible and avoid giving France one final chance at the death.

The plan worked and the final whistle came to end France’s very forgettable run at Euro 2024, and send La Roja to the Final in Berlin.

Lamine Yamal continues to announce himself in the world stage in spectacular fashion, and he might just win the European Championship the day after he turns 17 years old.

Spain: Simón; Navas (Vivian 58’), Nacho, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fabián; Yamal (Ferran 90+3’), Olmo (Merino 76’), Williams (Zubimendi 90+3’); Morata (Oyarzabal 76’)

Goals: Yamal (21’), Olmo (25’)

France: Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernández; Kanté (Griezmann 62’), Tchouaméni, Rabiot (Camavinga 62’); Dembélé (Giroud 79’), Kolo Muani (Barcola 62’), Mbappé

Goal: Kolo Muani (9’)

Source: Barca Blaugranes