Lamine Yamal, the incredible story of the young Spanish star, 16 years old and son of immigrants, who amazes the world with his football

Lamine Yamal He is the youngster who has become a trend and has received all the praise at the European Championship by scoring the goal that gave Spain the equaliser in the match against France. This is not the only record that the 16-year-old holds.

What is the story behind the photo of Messi holding and bathing Lamine Yamal?

Recently, some photographs went viral in which the young Barcelona player can be seen being held and even bathed in a tub by Messi. These images have gone around the world, with some even claiming that he was ‘blessed’ by the best player in the world.

Far from being a montage or images created with artificial intelligence, the events took place in 2007, when Lionel Messi was 20 years old and posed for photographer Joan Monfort for a charity calendar.

The newspaper Sport was organizing the second edition of a charity calendar in which the Barça Foundation and Unicef ​​collaborated, where the newspaper chose a player from the team who would pose with the children.

“Lamine was very likeable. He won Messi over with two smiles,” said Joan Monfort, who immortalized the moment that would go viral almost two decades later.

What records has Lamine Yamal held?

Lamine’s life was linked to football from then on, as he joined La Masía, the FC Barcelona youth academy, at just 7 years old. where he stood out for his technical ability and vision of the game.

Eight years after being a player in the Spanish team’s youth academy, he was called up to Barcelona’s big leagues in April 2023, making his debut at just 15 years, 9 months and 16 days, which made him the recipient of a first record.

On 8 October, Lamine scored his first goal at the age of 16 years and 87 days. Since then, he has played 51 times for Barcelona, ​​scoring seven goals. He later became the youngest player to make his debut for the Spanish national team.

Lamine Yamal has played 12 matches with the Spanish national team, including four in the Euro Cup qualifiers where He scored two goals, against Georgia and against Cyprus; three international friendlies and five at Euro 2024.

In addition to this, he is the youngest player to have played in the Champions League quarter-finals, having started in the first leg of that round against Paris Saint-Germain. He also managed to be the youngest player to start in the entire history of the UEFA Champions League.

The story behind the 304 signal that Lamine Yamal makes when he scores a goal

Lamine Yamal Nasraoui and Ebana was born in Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona. His father, Mounir, was born in Morocco and his mother, Fatima, in Equatorial Guinea. and has spent his entire life living first in Mataró and then in Granollers, both municipalities in the metropolitan area of ​​Barcelona.

His name is Arabic, Lamine means “honest” and “Yamal” means beauty. Whenever he scores a goal he makes the 304 sign with his fingers, recalling his humble origins in the Rocafonda neighbourhood in Mataró.

The number 304 on his fingers refers to the postal code of this place, which received a lot of immigration years ago and where a good part of his family still lives today.

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