You wonder what ran through the top of Alaves three minutes after the sport against Barcelona against Barcelona in Montjuic.

Lamine Yamal, the player who had commissioned Sanchez to Mark for the following 87 minutes of his life, had practically drove his first participation of the sport past him.

Sanchez could be forgiven that he may very well be for an extended afternoon.

In a way, Alaves might be satisfied with the best way they contain Barcelona as a complete. The Catalans achieved a shabby 1-0 win against a relegation battling team in a must-win game after Real Madrid lost to Espanyol the night before. Hansi Flick's team at the moment are 4 points behind their foremost competitors at La Liga, and the title race 2024-25 feels more alive in February than ever before.

A packed game list on Madrid's side, including a two-legged Champions League play against Manchester City on February eleventh and nineteenth, could also make Barca, which can undergo the sixteenth round in March.

But weeks and perhaps months will pass, and Yamal's outrageous solo run will linger within the minds of the people present.

It's nothing latest, fans each time Yamal gets football and louder when he slid to the opponent after the opponent.

– Laliga English (@laligaen) February 2, 2025

It is typically easy to forget that Lamine Yamal is just 17 years old.

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Let us return to the start of this extraordinary step.

Yamal took possession on the proper, its comfort zone, but in Barcelona's half of the sector. Sanchez pressed him immediately, however the teenager modified the ball within the direction he got here in and immediately photographed his initial opponent.

After disarming Sanchez with a shoulder enemy and a dribble on his left foot, Alaves' left -wing Tomas Conechny was waiting to double the Spanish international child prodigy.

The 17-year-old protected the ball after which broke past each players and cut towards a central area.

Sanchez admitted a defeat at the moment and returned to his role, but Conechny decided to follow Yamal and check out to grab his arm.

More backup was required.

The attacking midfielder Jon Guridi now tried to achieve Yamal, however the latter already worked in a distinct course.

Antonio Blanco, one among the visitor's midfielder, tried to step in Yamal, but a brief left foot film meant that the tackle was useless. Yamal continued to maneuver forward.

Now Conechny was back for the second round and this time tried to perform a merciless sliding stack. In a part of his peripheral perspective, the Barca winger saw him coming and quickly switched his ball to his right foot – and sent out Conechny for tapas.

Those within the Montjuic stands loved it every second and never wanted the run to the top.

Guridi and Blanco now tried to bring Yamal down again, but failed again.

Anders Guevara von Alaves' other holding midfielder, Anders Guevara, was now on Yamals and introduced himself to his luck, but with so many players who were now pushing around him, Yamal decided to make his teammate Raphinha in loads of space Find out on the left.

With a Trivela pass.

Raphinha made a shot on the goal, which was played far, although only a couple of really took care of it within the stadium. The fans were still roaring to Yamal and made the style of comparisons of their heads with previous Barcelona greats, which the managers understandably are inclined to play down for fear of igniting the hype. But Yamal shouldn’t be an strange talent.

“Lamine is already one of the best players in the world to be honest,” said Alaves Sanchez in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo. And that was before yesterday's game.

In an identical way one can find it in an interview with Italian La Gazzetta Dello Sport Last week.

“For me, they’re the 2 biggest talents that I saw in my life, each (Kenan) Yildiz (with Szczesny's former club Juventus) and Yamal. They are very different since it is technically absurd. Yildiz is physically stronger. He is already physically ready. But technically speaking is lamine … it's so impressive. So it is de facto difficult to make a comparison, but they’re two extraordinary talents and, in my view, each will do big things. “

Yamals appearance on Sunday went beyond his breathtaking run. According to Opta, he tried 20 Drippbles and took 11 of them and has reached a footballer in Barcelona probably the most for the reason that 2005/06 season.

Advice times, whose record he agreed …

Yes, it was Lionel Messi, 2006-07 against Mallorca. That day he tried 20 dribbles and accomplished 10 of them.

Yamal was also involved in the gate against Alaves, which Robert Lewandowski scored when he typed a volley of the teenager. La Liga did not count as an assist when Yamal's attempt by Alaves defender Nahuel Tenaglia before reaching Lewandowski. Doesn't matter. He still runs the league for this metric this season in 19 games.

His progress was excellent since he broke into the first team in Barcelona last season, and those near the club feel blessed to have such a talent in their hands.

In the back of the head, however, there is a silent debate on the best way to deal with Yamal. If he is so fundamental to the club's overall project at the age of 17, what's next for him? What is the best way to ensure that its development stays on the right track or to ensure that the spirit of the teenager can stay in the right place?

Last week, Flick Yamal dropped against Atalanta in the last minutes of his last league phase game in the Champions League. The teenager was visibly frustrated with the replacement because he enjoyed himself after a goal.

When he made his way to the bank, he stopped him and had a kindness to smooth things. Yamal was appointed man of the game at the time and therefore had to fulfill some media tasks. At first he did not feel in the mood to speak to broadcasters, but finally agreed to talk to the club's press officers.

It was more of a situation of heat as a situation as something with a deeper meaning for those within the changing room, but in a way reflected on how Flick Yamal wants to guard against public eye and excessive exams in the course of the press conferences.

Immediately after yesterday's victory, he was asked about Yamal's display and whether it was paying homage to other club sizes comparable to Messi and Diego Maradona.

“I'm not a fan of comparisons and all of that,” said Flick. “Lamin is a genius. I even have already said that up to now. What he did in some situations today was incredible. I’m so glad that he’s a Barca player and I need him to do that week after week.

“Again he is only 17.”

Follow today's live coverage of the Euro 2024 semi-final between England and the Netherlands

A crack within the universe opened up within the Allianz Arena.

Suddenly, an area appeared that the opposite 21 players on the sector, notably French goalkeeper Mike Maignan, or the 75,000 fans within the stands had not noticed. As it appeared, Pedri, sitting on the Spanish bench, brought his folded hands from his neck to his face. He looked as if he was afraid of what he had just seen. Afraid of the portal to a brand new dimension that his teammate Lamine Yamal was breaking through along with his left foot. The portal to a European Championship final. The portal through which one could catch a glimpse of Yamal's immense potential.

The ball travelled in time because it went from outside to inside towards the far post. Yamal was 13 when the last European Championship took place three years ago. He was in a shopping centre along with his friends as he watched Spain lose to Italy within the semi-finals. Dani Olmo, the person of the match in that match, missed a penalty within the shoot-out. But in Munich, Yamal showed that a unique reality is feasible.

Olmo scored the winning goal against France. His goal was simply exquisite for its skill, its incomprehensibility and its confirmation of Spain's technical superiority. Olmo played with the arrogance of somebody who has scored in three games in a row. But France was also completely stunned and disorientated.

Four minutes earlier, Yamal had equalised France's opening goal. Until then, it had looked like this could possibly be Kylian Mbappe's night. Mbappe had taken off his mask like a gladiator would throw it on the bloody sand of the Colosseum. A declaration of intent. His vision was not impaired by the “terrible” accessory he needed to wear to guard his broken and bruised nose. Within 10 minutes, Mbappe even let Randal Kolo Muani, a player who famously missed a one-on-one within the 2022 World Cup final, not to say one other against Portugal 4 days ago, finally rating.

We've turn out to be accustomed to nobody coming back against France on this tournament. Nor should they. The only goal Maignan had conceded to date was a penalty from Yamal's Barcelona teammate Robert Lewandowski in a 1-1 draw with Poland. Maignan had saved Lewandowski's first attempt, however the referee ordered a retake for an infringement of the penalty area. Beating him would require something very special. Something extraordinary. “We were in a difficult moment,” Yamal admitted. “Nobody expected to concede a goal so early.”

When a roulette from Fabian Ruiz led to a tangle 30 metres from the goal, Yamal picked up the loose ball, interrupting the joy behind the French goal. “I picked up the ball and didn't think about it, I just tried to shoot it where it was going and I'm just very happy.”

He was up against France's giraffe-like midfielder Adrien Rabiot. Yamal clearly felt he needed to carry back. On the eve of the match, Rabiot had said: “We saw that he is a player who can handle stress very well. He has a lot of qualities when he plays for his club and in a big tournament. We know what he is capable of. He keeps a cool head but it can be difficult to deal with a semi-final in a big tournament. It is up to us to put him under pressure but we want him to get out of his comfort zone. If you want to play in a European Championship final you have to do more than he has done so far.”

Yamal responded on Instagram with a post showing a hand moving a pawn on a chessboard. “Move in silence,” the caption read. “Speak only when it's time to say checkmate.” Yamal let his left foot do the talking. He made his move within the twenty first minute. Yamal initially hid the ball by wrapping his left foot around it to go past Rabiot, only to then release it by pushing it inwards with the skin of the identical boot.

Rabiot moved back and forth like an arctic crab. When Yamal prepared to shoot, he held out a pair of claws, but Rabiot didn't catch the ball. Neither did Maignan. He covered his goal as best he could. The AC Milan goalkeeper's gloved hand covered the highest corner, however it couldn't block out the sun, the sunshine of Yamal's talent. “Speak! Speak!” Yamal shouted to Rabiot. “Talk! Talk!” All the Frenchman's talk had been low cost. Yamal's shot, then again, was priceless. “We saw a stroke of genius,” said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente.

It just isn’t unusual for people to say that perfection doesn’t exist. That it’s unattainable. But Yamal's shot disproved that notion. “His shot was praised by Didier Deschamps. It made Yamal the youngest goalscorer in the history of the European Championship at 16 years and 362 days. He will turn 17 on the eve of the final. The only present Yamal wants is “simply to win, win, win. My goal was to have the opportunity to have a good time my birthday here in Germany. And I’m very glad to have a good time it here with the team.” And he added: “I told my mom that she doesn't must buy me a gift if we win the ultimate.”

As Yamal turned and charged towards the rapt Spanish bench, sliding on his knees in a state of euphoria, memories of a very similar goal the Barcelona winger had scored against Mallorca flashed before the eyes of the Catalan journalists in the press box. But this one was better. For the occasion. Because it made Mbappe puff out his cheeks in an expression of awe and helplessness. “I don't know if it was probably the most beautiful goal of the tournament,” Yamal said. “But for me it’s probably the most special.”

Yamal's performance is reduced to the evaluation of a moment. But Rodri went into more detail. “I personally went to Lamine and congratulated him on his performance,” he said. “People will remember the game for his goal and what he did is something that only a select few can do. But I personally thanked him for his effort in defence. The ball recoveries, the running back, the way he helped the full-back. That was outstanding for a man of his age. I personally appreciate that a lot.”

At the tip of the sport, the Spanish players huddled together and jumped up and right down to have a good time reaching the ultimate. Yamal initially stood just a little way away from them, closer to the halfway line, like a star from a galaxy far, far-off.