Marcus Chan
Spain star Lamine Yamal has broken a record after he was named in the starting line-up against Croatia.
Ahead of Spain’s opening Group B match against Croatia, it was confirmed that Barcelona youngster Yamal will start for Luis de la Fuente’s side.
After being named in the starting eleven, Lamal, at the age of 16 years and 338 days old, has become the youngest ever player to play at the European Championships.
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A tweet from TNT Sports read: “At 16 years and 338 days old, Lamine Yamal becomes the youngest player to ever feature at the European Championships.”
During a recent interview with UEFA, Spain captain Alvaro Morata spoke about Yamal, he said: “It's a pleasure to have him playing with us. He offers something different.
“If he is lucky and doesn't suffer major injuries, then he will be among the very best in the world, because despite being just 16 years old, he is already a step further than many others.”
Morata continued: “He must mature, but that's normal. Sometimes it seems he isn't 16, it seems he is 23 or 24. Above all, we need to make him understand how important it is to manage matches mentally and also the fact that you sometimes need to slow down the match rather than trying to make something out of everything.
“He is really good at dribbling, he has a great technique, but he must help us with that by understanding that there are certain matches where the most important thing is to protect the current result.”
So far in his short career, the 16-year-old has scored seven goals in 51 appearances for the Catalan club.
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