When Spain played Italy in the second group stage match of the UEFA Euro 2024, Lamine Yamal gave the world a major demonstration of his abilities. Given that he was selected for such a prestigious continental competition at the age of 16, which is a record in and of itself, his performance in that match elicited many positive comments and assessments of the player.
Yamal has demonstrated his exceptional personality with Barcelona, even at such a young age. When playing Italy, he demonstrated this by playing fearlessly and putting on an impressive show, particularly in his one-on-one duels with Federico Dimarco of Inter Milan, who was his direct opponent.
Furthermore, Yamal could accomplish everything he had set out to do in this game. He made crucial passes, shot on target, dribbled outside before crossing, cut inside, and posed a constant threat to Italy’s defense.
It’s amazing how Yamal manages to convey the impression that he has been a member of the senior Spanish team for a considerable amount of time, considering that his senior football career began only in 2023, first with Barcelona B and subsequently with Barcelona.
Yamal is a very dangerous player and a vital weapon for Spain in this tournament and the future tournaments because of his calm demeanor and faith in his inherent talents and physical prowess.
Having said that, Yamal needs to remain grounded, keep honing his craft, and learn how to better position himself, finish with greater accuracy, and defend with greater efficiency if he wants to develop into a more complete winger for Barcelona or Spain.
We will give a thorough analysis of the player’s overall skills in this tactical analysis and scout report. The analysis also seeks to understand the significance of this young player to Spain’s strategies by investigating why they insisted on adding him to their Euro 2024 squad.
Role for Spain and reasons for the call-up at the age of 16
Yamal, who is only 16 years old, has the football skills to merit a call-up for a major tournament such as the UEFA EURO 2024 and the opportunity to start for a country like Spain that produces many talented and strong players. This only serves to support the notion that Yamal is an exceptionally gifted player.
The accompanying image demonstrates Yamal’s essential qualities and demonstrates that he is among La Liga’s top dribblers. In addition to having a strong average in winning duels inside the final third, he has an extremely high success rate when dribbling. Furthermore, Yamal’s ability to consistently position himself well and offer a passing option is one of his most impressive qualities.
This is crucial for the Spanish style of play because they heavily rely on their ability to move without the ball, stay dynamic without it, and ask for it throughout the game. That indicates that Yamal’s attributes fit Spain’s philosophy of football, particularly given that, as the graphic illustrates, he can make a lot of risky passes in a game.
These are a few of the reasons why Spain decided to include Yamal in their squad for UEFA EURO 2024 and have relied heavily on him thus far in the group stage.
While it’s true that the graphic also highlights Yamal’s lack of aerial skill and his need for development and encouragement, the rest of his stats are extremely encouraging and align with Spain’s style of football.
Furthermore, after trying out a number of other players, including Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Pablo Sarabia, former Real Madrid player Marco Asensio, and more, Spain and their coaching staff, led by Luis de la Fuente, were unable to find a better fit for the right-wing position and came to the conclusion that Yamal could be more effective and dangerous than all of the others.
Yamal is undoubtedly going to be even more valuable for Spain because of his dynamism, great pace, dribbling skills, ability to pass and shoot with both feet, excellent balance, and ball protection abilities. He will probably continue to be the starting winger on a regular basis.
He is an even more important and necessary player for this Spanish team because of his ability to pass the ball and not give it away to opponents while avoiding easy ball loss and withstanding the aggressive disruption of defenders.
Goalscoring skills
Yamal has only been a senior for a short while, but he has already shown that he is a very clinical finisher who can handle half-chances and even create his own scoring opportunities before finishing with incredible accuracy. Yamal actually shoots 2.43 times and scores 0.32 goals on average per game in a match.
We should keep in mind that this was the player’s first season at the senior level and that his performance has been increasing linearly from game to game, even though these numbers are not high enough. Furthermore, given that Yamal seems to be growing older with every game he plays, it is anticipated that he will be even more decisive when given the chance to score goals the following season.
The ensuing instance demonstrates his adeptness in selecting Robben-esque cuts within and curved shots, even in the face of their intricacy.
Here, it is evident that he visualized the entire play and the shooting trajectory because he shot without even looking at the goal, dribbling past his opponent in an instant.
This demonstrates that Yamal frequently thinks through and plans his actions in advance, which helps him do his job and ultimately makes goalkeepers’ and defenders’ jobs more difficult.
When the team is in possession, Yamal’s ability to position himself in advantageous positions and take advantage of his strong attacking positioning by turning passes into goals is another crucial skill that is developing quickly. To put it another way, Yamal has been penetrating the box so much lately, either during crosses or when locating open spaces. Yamal understands when and why to switch from the wing to the box and play as a second striker on certain occasions thanks to his intelligence and tactical adaptability.
This phenomenon is particularly evident when it is noted that the striker is closely marked and that the defenders may leave gaps behind, as demonstrated in this instance: When Yamal saw that the far post was empty, he attacked it.
Along with his trademark attacking moves, Yamal possesses the coolness, confidence, and superb ball control to handle challenging situations in front of the goal, giving him the advantage whenever he has the ball.
This goal against Cyprus demonstrates not only how well he can position himself inside the box but also how good he is in front of goal. Before feinting to shoot, he was able to confuse the other two defenders who were trying to deviate his shot with a deceptive dribble. Ultimately, Yamal fired the ball when none of the three opponents could intercept it, and he then ensured that the trajectory of his shot
Playmaking abilities
Yamal has been extremely dangerous when it comes to playmaking and passing, with an accuracy rate of 80.7%. This is because his position demands exceptional passing and crossing abilities. Even though Yamal still has room to grow and increase the accuracy of his passes, he has already shown that he is capable of contributing consistently, whether playing for Barcelona or Spain.
This clip from the opening game of UEFA EURO 2024 highlights Yamal’s superb and extremely precise curved crosses and features his first assist of the competition. In order to meet his colleague’s header, he deliberately aimed this one towards the near post. In situations like this, timing is also crucial, as Yamal demonstrated not only with this example but also with his frequent ability to execute passes and crosses with great skill.
Besides his dribbling and running skills, Yamal’s ability to make crucial passes is another important attribute. It goes without saying that passing while dribbling and moving is more difficult and can result in misdirected passes. Yamal, though, has no trouble making crucial passes while sprinting or right after dribbling. Not all wingers can pass quickly in such situations, and more significantly, accurate passing is highly difficult to provide.
Due to their frequent unpredictability, passes of this nature have the potential to completely demolish defenses. The next pass was made in a manner that anticipated the movement of the player in question. Here, Yamal even demonstrated his ability to execute a no-look pass, adding to the confusion for the defence and simplifying things for his partner.
Furthermore, it’s impressive and crucial for him to use the outside portion of his foot as an attacking option when he uses it to create space for himself to assist, as he did in this example against PSG, and to beat his direct marker quickly and in a way that looks very easy.
With more work on pace, balance, and especially physical strength to resist better against aggressive defenders, Yamal can become even more impactful regarding assists and playmaking in general. Yamal’s dribbling and passing skills have proven to be very useful for Barcelona and Spain thus far.
Conclusion
This season, Lamine Yamal astonished everyone with his outstanding football skills and resilient demeanor at a young age. He is deserving of the call-up to UEFA EURO 2024 and has already contributed positively to the competition to show Spain that they made the right decision in include him in the squad.
The secret to becoming an even more valuable player will be for him to maintain his composure and deliver top-notch performances, particularly if he helps Spain win something significant during this tournament.
