'Superstar' Yamal makes more history with Euros triumph

Breaking Pele's 66-year-old record and achieving things Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could only have dreamed of at his age.

It is fair to say Lamine Yamal has shaken up the game of football in the past year - and he reached the pinnacle on Sunday as he became the youngest player to win a European Championship or World Cup - at the age of 17 years and one day.

The Barcelona winger set up Nico Williams' opener in their 2-1 Euro 2024 final win over England - and forced Jordan Pickford into two fine saves.

Nobody was involved in more Euro 2024 goals than Yamal - with one goal and four assists.

Nobody has set up more goals in a single European Championship since records began in 1980.

And nobody has ever been directly involved in goals in a quarter-final, semi-final and final before Yamal achieved the feat.

Unsurprisingly, he was named the tournament's Young Player of the Tournament.

"I am very happy, this is a dream," said Yamal. "I'm looking forward to returning to Spain and celebrating with all the fans. It's the best birthday present ever."

Former England defender Rio Ferdinand said the teenager was a "sensation" and an "elite player".

"He was a star before this tournament, but he's a superstar now," he added.

In the last few weeks Yamal became the youngest person to play at the Euros, to assist a goal at the Euros and to score a goal at the Euros.

It is not just potential, he is already one of the most exciting players in the world.

Former Spain midfielder Juan Mata, working on BBC One, said: "I was having dinner yesterday with [Barcelona boss] Xavi and he told me he hasn't seen a player of this quality."

That is the Xavi who played alongside the legendary Messi at Barcelona.

"I don't like to make comparisons between players or compare them with Messi, but I think the sky is the limit for this kid," added Mata.

So what has Barcelona winger Yamal, who turned 17 on Saturday, achieved so far in his career - and why is it so special?

Before turning 17, Yamal had played 51 times for Barcelona, scoring seven goals and setting up another seven.

For Spain he now has 14 appearances, three goals and seven assists.

By comparison, neither Argentina's Messi nor Portugal's Ronaldo - the two greatest players of this generation - had played a single first-team game for club or country when they were 16.

And when we look at the players expected to replace Messi and Ronaldo as Ballon d'Or rivals in the future - France's Kylian Mbappe and Norway's Erling Haaland - their stats at this age cannot compare to Yamal either.

Mbappe had played four games for Monaco, making one assist before turning 17, while Haaland had played 23 times in Norway for second-tier Bryne and top-flight Molde, scoring once.

Even one of the most famous players to make their breakthrough at 16, Wayne Rooney, had only played 10 times for Everton and scored three goals before reaching 17.

Not all of Yamal's appearances have come aged 16... because he was even younger when he made his Barcelona debut.

At 15 years and 290 days he became Barcelona's youngest player in the La Liga era when he replaced Gavi with six minutes to go in a 4-0 win over Real Betis on 29 April 2023.

On 20 August, aged 16 years and 38 days, he became the youngest player since 1939 to start a La Liga game when he lined up in a 2-0 win over Cadiz.

Just a week later he became the youngest player to assist a La Liga goal in the 21st century when he crossed for Gavi to head in during a 4-3 win at Villarreal.

He became the youngest player to start a game in the Champions League, at 16 and 83 days, in a 1-0 win at Porto on 4 October.

Four days later he became the youngest goalscorer in La Liga history when he netted in the first half of a 2-2 draw at Granada.

He became the youngest player to play in El Clasico, the youngest to set up a Champions League goal, aged 16 years and 153 days at Antwerp, and the youngest player and scorer in the Spanish Super Cup.

Yamal also became the youngest player to score in the Spanish Cup this century, the youngest to score twice in a La Liga game, the youngest player in a Champions League knockout game and then a quarter-final.

Unsurprisingly he is the youngest player to make 50 appearances for Barcelona and the youngest to play 10 Champions League games.

Even Yamal could not match the records of Armand Martinez Sagi, though. He was Barcelona's youngest ever player and scorer at the age of 14 in the Catalan Championship in 1920 - nine years before Spain had a national league.

Among the few major records he has missed out on are youngest player in the Champions League (Youssoufa Moukoko was 16 years and 18 days for Borussia Dortmund against Zenit St Petersburg in 2020) or La Liga (Luka Romero was 15 years and 219 days old when he appeared for Mallorca against Real Madrid in 2020).

He has yet to net in the Champions League and will not have the chance to break Ansu Fati's record as youngest scorer, aged 17 years and 40 days for Barcelona against Inter Milan in 2019, in that tournament now.

On 8 September 2023, Yamal became Spain's youngest player and goalscorer in the same game - a 7-1 win over Georgia in Euro 2024 qualifying.

He was aged 16 years and 57 days when he replaced Dani Olmo just before half-time. That was before he had even scored for Barcelona.

Only Martin Odegaard, who was 15 years and 300 days when he played for Norway in 2014, has been younger while playing a European Championship qualifier.

In this summer's finals, Yamal has broken nearly every record there is to break - even though he has been doing school homework during some of his downtime in Germany.

He became the first 16-year-old to play at a men's Euros when he started their group opener against Croatia.

Yamal also set up Dani Carvajal's goal for 3-0 in that game, making him the youngest to assist in Euros history.

In the semi-final against France he became the youngest goalscorer in European Championship history - aged 16 years and 362 days.

In that game he passed two Pele landmarks that have stood since 1958 - the youngest player to score at a Euros or World Cup - and the youngest to feature in the semi-finals of either.

And then he broke Pele's record as the youngest player in either final.

The only quirky milestone he missed out on was the chance to become the first 16-year-old and the first 17-year-old to score at a Euros.

He turned 17 the day before the final - and the previous youngest Euros goalscorer was Johan Vonlanthen at the age of 18.

Since his debut in September 2023, Yamal has been involved in more goals for Spain than anyone else (three goals, seven assists)

A photo has been doing the rounds from a charity calendar photoshoot taken at Barcelona's Nou Camp in 2007.

In it, the 20-year-old Messi - who would go on to become the club's all-time leading goalscorer and footballing icon - held baby Yamal and helped him have a bath.

The shoot came about after Unicef did a raffle in the town of Mataro where Lamine's family lived.

Photographer Joan Monfort, a freelancer for the Associated Press, only discovered last week that the baby in the picture was Yamal.

"He [Messi] was coming out of the locker room and suddenly he finds himself in another locker room with a plastic tub full of water and a baby in it. It was complicated - he didn't even know how to hold him at first," recalled Monfort.

Yamal already looks like he could go on to become a Barcelona legend himself. So, to follow in that tradition, no pressure on any baby he has a photoshoot with then...

A version of this article was published on Saturday, 13 July before the final