Spain crushed Georgia 7-1 on Friday in Tbilisi to take second place in Group A of the Euro-2024 qualifiers, in a one-sided match where Barça prodigy Lamine Yamal, 16, became the youngest scorer in the history of La Roja.
In bad shape in its qualifying campaign for the Euro and in the midst of a crisis after the scandal of the forced kiss of Spanish football boss Luis Rubiales to world champion Jenni Hermoso, the Spanish players had made this match “a final”.
They responded from the start to put La Roja back on track, scoring in the 22nd minute before rolling away, to lead 4-0 at half-time. It was captain Alvaro Morata, often criticized for his clumsiness in front of goal but always present on the attacking front, who launched his team with a header on a curled cross from Parisian Marco Asensio.
The other PSG player in the starting lineup, Fabian Ruiz, doubled the lead with a cross deflected into his own goal by Kvirkvelia who wanted to get ahead of Morata (27th).
The game then turned into a correction, RB Leipzig striker Dani Olmo firing a powerful shot into the small net of Mamardashvili (38th), whose ordeal was only just beginning.
Because two minutes later (40th), Morata scored twice with a flat right foot after a nice one-two with Ruiz.
– New record for Lamine Yamal –
Just before halftime, Asensio and Olmo remained on the ground and called for a change. The opportunity for coach Luis de la Fuente to launch Nico Williams and especially Lamine Yamal, on whom all the cameras were focused.
The young FC Barcelona prodigy became the youngest player in La Roja history at 16 years and 57 days, beating the previous record of his teammate Gavi (17 years and 62 days).
He was discreet at first, Georgia even managing to reduce the score on its first opportunity, taking advantage of a hand fault from Unai Simon, unable to stop Chakvetadze’s low shot ( 49th).
While the Georgians pushed to save the honor, in the pouring rain, Morata definitely showered them and offered himself a first hat-trick in the selection (65th), Williams then scoring the 6-1 goal (68th).
Yamal’s time came in the 74th minute: on a cross from Williams, the young Catalan curled a powerful shot from the left to make history a little more and become the youngest scorer in the history of Spain.
“It’s like a dream, I’m living a dream! I’m very happy and I have to thank my teammates and the coach for the confidence he gave me,” the FC Barcelona prodigy told Spanish public television after the game.
A sensation at the start of the season in La Liga, he was already the youngest Barça player to play a championship match at 15 years and 9 months and also the youngest to start, against Cadiz in August.
With the talents of Yamal and Williams, in particular, “the future of Spanish football is guaranteed”, assured coach Luis de la Fuente, satisfied with the performance of his players.
Yamal and La Roja will have the opportunity to continue this momentum on Tuesday against Cyprus, to catch up with Scotland, still leader of Group A with 12 points in four matches.
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2023-09-08 22:58:53
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