After celebrating his 19th birthday, Lamine Yamal has insisted that he will not be afraid when Spain and France face off in the World Cup semi-finals.
The Barcelona prodigy raised eyebrows after Spain lost 2-1 to Belgium in the quarter-finals last week when he said France, rather than Spain, should be “feared” given their recent defeat to La Roja.
A relaxed-looking Yamal addressed these comments while speaking to reporters at a press conference on Monday.
“They asked me if I was scared of France, and I said no,” Yamal explained. “We are European champions. It’s just football,” the teenager explained.
Yamal said she attended the press conference by purchasing a thick jewel-encrusted necklace to commemorate her 19th birthday. But the real birthday present will be a place in Sunday’s World Cup final.
“I haven’t received many presents yet. The best present is Tuesday’s win and a trip to New York,” he said.
While the other stars of this World Cup are in great form scoring goals, Yamal has found the back of the net just once in the tournament so far, but is poised to add to his tally against France.
“I’m not obsessed with goals, but it’s always special to score in a match like this. I accept the challenge. That’s why I came here,” Yamal said, promising a “beautiful match for the audience.”
“This is the match everyone has been waiting for,” he added.
Yamal acknowledged the important nature of Tuesday’s match, but maintained a relaxed approach.
“I’m calm because there are situations in life that are much more difficult than a football match,” he said. “I don’t feel any particular pressure. I’m going to play as usual and give my best for the team.”
“We’ve known each other for a while.”
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said his team will be “on the front lines” against tournament favorites France when they meet in the heavyweight semi-finals.
De la Fuente’s Spain will look to impose a possession-based game on France in what is shaping up to be a fascinating clash of styles.
While France coach Didier Deschamps insists Spain remain favorites to win the World Cup, the market is expected to overwhelmingly support France winning their second title in their third attempt.
Les Bleus advanced to the top four with brilliant attacking football, led by talents such as Kylian Mbappé, Michael Oliseh and Ousmane Dembele.
But de la Fuente, whose team has defeated France in its past two games, is secretly planning a new ambush on Tuesday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“We have already analyzed France in detail and have known each other for some time,” de la Fuente said.
“We have been playing against them for the last few years and they have great players, but so do we. We have to use all our virtues to counteract the opponent’s strengths.”
“And that’s what football is: the better balanced team usually comes closer to winning.
“We have to think about our opponent players. We want to win those duels and during the match we want to be at the front and assert our style.”
France: “Much better”
But de la Fuente has no illusions about the difficulty of the task facing his team.
He said France had improved significantly since Spain defeated France 5-4 in a hard-fought UEFA Nations League semi-final in Stuttgart last year. At this time, Spain was leading 5-1 before the France rally in the second half. De la Fuente said the matchup won’t look anything like Tuesday’s game.
“We are talking about two completely different matches,” he admitted.
“Tomorrow is the semi-final, just repeating the positive scenario, but there were other little details where things weren’t so positive.
“We were up 5-1 and in a few minutes they managed to make it 5-4, so we’re trying to repeat what worked and what didn’t work.
“We need to impose our game. We have a completely adversarial style of play, so we will try to come forward and take the initiative.”
De la Fuente also believes it will be a more difficult task for the mature France squad.
“I think they’re a better team, a much better team, because those players have grown and what they’re doing now is better than what they were doing back then,” he said.
“So they’ve improved their skills over the last two years. That’s the reality.”
While possession and tempo control will be key, de la Fuente has told his players to savor the challenge. When asked what his final message would be to the team, he replied:
“We’re in a unique environment. No one knows if we’re going to come back or not. We have to be the team we know we can be. We have to be strong and try to match the strength of our opponents.”
