Before a ball was even kicked on Thursday, the UEFA Nations League semifinal between France and Spain was billed as a clash of two modern greats, and the match certainly didn’t disappoint.
Inspired by the likes of teenage superstar Lamine Yamal, La Roja managed to get the better of the goalfest, beating Les Bleus 5-4 in an all-time classic.
The result means Spain will progress through to the final where it will face Portugal on June 8.
The nine-goal thriller, the highest scoring match in the tournament’s short history, is perhaps less surprising when you consider the number of world-class forwards on the pitch.
France boasted attacking talents such as Kylian Mbappé, as well as Champions League heroes Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé, but it was 17-year-old Spanish star Yamal who once again stole the show.
The teenager scored two goals in the match and produced another memorable performance which has perhaps convinced even more people of his Ballon d’Or credentials.
“When two great teams like this play, you sometimes see a lot of goals,” Yamal said after the match.
“They will make you suffer until the end, but we went to the final despite the mistakes we made. We were aware of what we wanted to do. We wanted to make history. The greatest thing when you are winning is to keep winning.”
The youngster had a part to play in Spain’s opening goal, beating his man on the right wing before crossing into the box. The ball was brilliantly held up by Mikel Oyarzabal before the striker teed up Nico Williams who rifled his finish into the roof of the net in the 22nd minute.
Just three minutes later and the Euro 2024 champions had doubled their lead. Oyarzabal once again provided the assist, but this time it was Arsenal man Mikel Merino who produced the finish as Spain took a 2-0 lead going into the break.
The second half saw more free-flowing attacking play and Yamal soon got on the scoresheet.
The winger was brought down in the box and stepped up to take the subsequent penalty. Despite his age, Yamal looked confident before passing his spotkick into the back of the net in the 53rd minute.
Two minutes later and France found itself 4-0 down, after midfielder Pedri produced a wonderfully chipped finish to seemingly put the game to bed.
But it was then time for France and Mbappé to take center stage. The Real Madrid striker responded with a penalty of his own in the 59th minute to cut the deficit to 4-1.
But the French revival was cut short by Yamal, after the youngster raced onto a through ball to poke Spain 5-1 ahead.
France comeback falls short
Perhaps confident of the victory, Spain seemed to take its foot off the gas which opened the door for a possible comeback from Les Bleus.
Debutant Rayan Cherki scored the goal of the game in the 79th minute, with his sweetly struck volley making it 5-2.
An own-goal from Spain’s Dani Vivian then gave France a glimmer of hope in the closing stages and the comeback was almost complete when Randal Kolo Muani made it 5-4 in added time.
But France simply ran out of time and looked frustrated when the referee blew his whistle for full-time.
“We had some bursts of play we haven’t had for a long time,” Mbappé said after the game, trying to sum up the frantic 90 minutes.
“But in just 10 minutes of the first half, we conceded two goals – and the same thing happened in the second half.”
Spain’s win now sets up a brilliant all-Iberian final against Portugal, which will see 17-year-old Yamal come up against 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo in a battle of two generational greats.
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