Lamine: “I spoke to Flick and he wished me good luck before I make my Euro Cup debut”

Lamine Yamal spoke in interviews for COPE and Cadena SER of his impact on the Euro Cup and his expectations both now with the Spanish team and in the future with FC Barcelona, ​​​​​​where he repeated what he said recently in an interview for Mundo Deportivo. “I hope he can become a Barça legend and play for many years there,” he confirmed. The 17-year-old winger revealed that, on the eve of his brilliant debut in the national team tournament, he had a call unforeseen. “I talked to Flick Before the game against Croatia, he wished me the best of luck and told me that he wanted to start the season as coach of Barça,” said the culé youth player.

As for the key to his football talent, Lamine discovered that he accepts the challenge as something inherent in his demarcation. “I always go to the side because I see it as a very psychological game“If it comes out the first time I’m going to go for it,” he assured that he doesn’t worry much about his markers beforehand. I do it in the game, I go with what comes out to me. “I tell the ‘mister’ that I will chase the defender all the time and he should let me do it one on one,” he described.

Being, at 16 years and 339 days, the youngest debutant and assistant in the history of the Euro Cup, he sees it as a factor that helps him, rather than putting him under pressure. “Being the youngest debutant is one more fact that doesn’t scare me, because I play the same. It only helps me, because every time I do something well it is magnified by my age,” he admitted humbly.

This precocity did not generate any condescension from his rivals. “They treat me like a normal player, especially the opponents,” he said. Lamine revealed that the defenders who gave him the best response were “Mendy and Nuno Mendes.”

From his joint season with two top forwards such as Robert Lewandopwski at Barça and Álvaro Morata at the national team, Lamine has words of respect for both of them for their experience. As for the Barça ‘9’, he made light hand saves in a match. “For me it wasn’t that big of a deal. I took it as something that can happen in a game; he’s a teammate,” he recalled. In addition, he noted that “I also speak a lot with Lewandowski, and in Spanish. I am very comfortable and comfortable with both Lewandowski and Morata, although they are different forwards,” he said.

Until now, in super elite football He had as coaches Xavi Hernández, in Barça, and Luis de la Fuente, in the national team. He mentioned their differences: “Each one’s style is very different, each one brings different things: Xavi is more intense and Luis is more calm.. you can see everyone’s personality on the field.”

Regarding the collective game, he noticed only small variable nuances. “The ‘mister’, The game of the national team is quite similar to that of Barça. Nico and I are more directbut it’s pretty similar,” he warned.

From that chemistry with Nico Williams, one of the most popular wingers to sign for Barçaa harmony emerges that transcends the field. “I play with Nico Williams a lot and I beat everything we play. I’m his ‘father!’ In everything I do, I am your father! “I can control him,” he jokingly commented. Asked which player he would sign if he had a club, Lamine gave the exact name of the Athletic Bilbao striker. He is one of those extremes who goes for you, who faces you, who overflows and has speed,” he listed as virtues of the 21-year-old attacker. Exactly, he hopes that “we can bring the Euro Cup as a birthday present, as I will be 17 on July 13th and Nico on the 12th.”

A teammate of Lamine’s at Barça also usually enters that ‘society’. Fermín López “Having a lot of free time to concentrate, I took the iPod and started doing some homework until Nico or Fermín called me to play with them,” he explained. “I’m smart,” he clarified with a smile, hoping the teachers would follow him to the Euro Cup so they’d be magnanimous when it came to giving him his grades. “I suppose the grades will be sent to me online, although if we reach the final and I can’t go to take the exam I hope they can approve me,” he said. “History and math are my worst,” he admitted.

Among his colleagues, Lamine highlighted various issues, especially the age difference. “It’s not that people are old, I’m still too young… Pedro or Nico are 4 years older than me,” he recalled.

Lamine appreciates Álvaro Morata’s role as captain. “I can agree with Morata, he gave me a lot of advice. And his stories are funny,” he said. The ones who “surprised” him the most in terms of football are “Rodri and Grimaldo, it’s because of his correctness… in training he scores every great goal. “

About Dani Carvajal, who benefited from an assist from him to score against Croatia, he said that “maybe because we hugged it got attention, I don’t know if they think that because one plays for Madrid and one plays for Barça will fight.” he ironed.

In general, Lamine considers that “The good relationship that exists in the group is why you win Euro Cups and great titles”.

During his leisure time in daily life, he spent “about four hours on the Internet and Tik Toks” but not in concentration. In fact, he admitted that “if I wasn’t a footballer I’d be a ‘streamer’.” He asked his best friend and his cousin, the closest friend with his father, not to ask him too many questions about football. “If they ask me, I tell them to talk to me about something else, that I come from training, from learning… and if they ask me how it plays, they should put a video on their cell phone and watch.” About his father he declared that “he goes and returns to Germany from Barcelona to follow the Euro Cup” and about his mother he referred to her as “the most important person.” “If I score a goal I will dedicate it to my mother and if I win this European Championship I will go to her.” “I always tell my mom that what I miss the most is having drinks with her on the terrace, going shopping or picking up my brother from school. In the winter I can still do it ‘with a hoodie’ but in I can’t stand summer,” he joked.

Finally, he wished that if he had won the national team title “they would have allowed him to enter the nightclub, I hope they would have made an exception for my age.”