SPAIN wonderkid Lamine Yamal has said he is dreaming of meeting Lionel Messi in the Finalissima, the match in which the European champions face the Copa America winners.
Yamal, who turned 17 yesterday, has been one of the best players at the Euro 2024 European Championship in Germany, helping fire Spain to the final, where they will face Euro 2020 runners-up England tonight in Berlin.
The teenager has one goal and three assists, with his only strike coming in the 2-1 semi-final win over France.
Victory in Berlin on Sunday would crown Spain European champions for a third time this century and set up a Finalissima meeting with the winners of Monday morning’s Copa America final, contested by Messi-led world champions Argentina, and Colombia.
“I hope Messi wins the Copa America and I win Euro 2024 so I can play against him in the Finalissima,” Yamal said in a pre-match interview.
Such a match in which the teenage sensation and the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner would be the star attraction would also be a fairytale story after pictures emerged of a 20-year-old Messi bathing Yamal as part of a charity calendar when the Spain winger was just six months old.
Yamal’s dad addressed the now iconic photo in a recent interview with reporters and confidently backed his son.
“They are coincidences in life. Blessing from Leo to Lamine? or from Lamine to Leo. For me, my son is the best,” he said. “Lamine is a special case. He has matured before the others. Thanks to all of Spain, La Masia, friends…”
Yamal will be a vital part Spain’s strategy of unlocking England and he has already revealed his game plan.
“The first move conditions the game a lot,” Yamal said. “If I go past them, it’s there for the match. I always think that it’s the full-back who has pressure. If I go past him, I’m touching the goal.
“I receive the ball, if I have a one-on-one, I always go for the full-back because it’s a very psychological game and if I go for him, he is scared and then I can go for him more and I improvise.
“They have respect, the full-backs don’t go into me much. They try to hold off. How am I treated? As a normal player. Opponents especially, I don’t think they will not foul me because I’m 16.”
