Spain – Germany
This Friday, 6 p.m.
Brilliant on the pitch and friends off it, Spain’s two wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams have been making the “Roja” shine since the start of the Euro in Germany. This Friday (6pm) the duo, symbol of the new Spanish generation, will be highly anticipated against the host country.
Like two teenagers in a playground, Lamine Yamal, 16, and Nico Williams, 21, have brought a breath of fresh air to the competition, with a cocktail of carefree attitude and pure talent with the ball at their feet. Launched at full speed, they will play the biggest match of their young careers on Friday in Stuttgart.
“Two young people having fun on the field”
On the pitch, the phenomena of FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao have completely transformed a “Roja” that remained on a resounding failure at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in the round of 16 against Morocco, by offering what they bring to their respective clubs: dynamism, percussion and a touch of madness.
Each on their wing, “they transmit to us this youth and this innocence which are often so important”, estimated midfielder Rodri, while his teammate Pedri spoke of “two young people who have fun on the field”.
A few days before his 17th birthday, Lamine Yamal has indeed found in Nico Williams a formidable partner, but also a friend and a mentor within the Spanish selection.
The two players are inseparable: inseparable at the base camp, where they still train side by side, they bicker constantly, play multiple PlayStation games and celebrate their goals together with choreographies inspired by TikTok.
Yamal aims for record
An image illustrates this complicity and this carefree attitude: after the victory against Georgia (4-1) in the round of 16, where they were both decisive, Yamal and Williams engaged in a game of rock-paper-scissors to see who would drink first from a flask. A challenge won by Williams. “He didn’t want to give me the bottle! And we often play these kinds of games. This week, he’s going to have to keep a low profile against me because he didn’t score, but I hope he can shut me up in the next match,” Williams said ironically to the press.
If he manages to do so, Yamal, still silent despite numerous goal-scoring opportunities, would break yet another record for precocity by becoming the youngest player to score in a European championship.
A snub to critics
And if the fate of the Spanish selection depends largely on two kids from immigrant backgrounds (one was born in Catalonia to a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother, the other in Pamplona, to parents who fled Ghana by crossing the Sahara on foot), it is a real snub to certain racist comments, still too numerous, from supporters or commentators, on the face that the “Roja” should have according to them.
But beyond their multicultural heritage, the two pals have “a lot in common,” Williams says. Including a creative game and skills from street football. “We love watching videos, I used to watch a lot of highlights Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Robinho. I think that in today’s football, street talent is getting lost a little. I was 24/7 in my neighborhood square playing football, trying to dribble… “he summarized to the newspaper Brand. Qualities that, until now, make Spain shine.
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