In the early morning of July 1, Beijing time, in the 1/8 finals of the European Cup, the Spanish men's football team reversed the Georgian men's football team 4-1 and successfully advanced to the top 8. In this game, the 16-year-old Yamal started the game and played a wonderful performance again: he handed out one assist, and became the youngest player and assister in the knockout stage of the European Cup, and he set two historical records.
Yamal and Nico, the two big wingers who were rested in the last game, returned to the starting position in this game against Georgia, and Spain continued to use the tactical style of attacking on the side and grabbing points in the middle. Compared to Nico, the performance of the younger Yamal has attracted much attention.
Yamal, who is only 16 years old, has made two major records for Spain in this European Championship, at the age of 16 years and 338 days, he has become the youngest player to appear in the history of the European Championship, the youngest assister, and the next is the youngest player to score goals.
Yamal returned to the starting line-up against Georgia and became the youngest player to make a European Championship knockout game at 16 years and 353 days, a previous record held by Jude Bellingham (18 years and four days). Yamal also became only the second Under-18 player in history to feature in a major knockout game such as the World Cup/European Championships, the last time football legend Pele did so when he was 17 years old when he played in the knockout stages of the 1958 World Cup.
In the first half, Yamal played a meadow and barely made a bright performance, and after Lenormand scored an own goal, Spain relied on Rodri's goal to equalise.
Shortly after the start of the second half, Yamal was lively in attack. In the 50th minute, Yamal was tripped in the front of the penalty area, and then the free kick was saved by goalkeeper Mamadashvili, Spain reorganized the attack, Yamal took the ball and made a pleasing cross, assisted Fabian to score with a header, helping Spain to overtake the score 2-1.
Slow motion showed Yamal's "kite-flying" assist, directly over the heads of eight opposing players, allowing his teammates to score easily.
After the referee signaled that the goal was valid, Yamal shook his fist into the fans stand and roared in celebration, very happy.
It was Yamal's second assist of the tournament, the first coming against Croatia in Spain's game against Croatia, when in first-half stoppage time, Yamal's cross set up Carvajal to open the scoring, almost in the same position as Fabian.
According to statistics, the 16-year-old Yamal has played 11 games for Spain, contributing two goals, five assists, one penalty and eight goals.
After setting up the assist for his team-mates, Yamal's desire to score was very strong, and he had two shots on goal in the space of 10 minutes, both of which were on target. In the 73rd minute, Yamal's pass in the penalty area caused the defender to set up an own goal, and the goal was invalidated due to offside.
At full-time, Spain reversed Georgia 4-1, Yamal missed the goal, and he still has to wait for his first goal in the European Cup.
According to statistics, Yamal had 7 shots on goal and 2 on target, 8 successful dribbles 3 times, 6 key passes, and missed 2 good opportunities, but 1 assist, 3 successful crosses, and 1 scoring opportunity created, the above 3 statistics ranked first in the game, and finally scored 7.8 points.
Judging from the performance on the field, Yamal is not at all like a 16-year-old child, skilled foot skills, absolute self-confidence, and still has the opportunity to show himself on the big stage of the European Cup. In the next game, Spain will play against the host Germany, which is an early preview of the finals, and it will also test Yamal, whether he can score his first goal in the European Cup, it is worth looking forward to!