As Spain initially rioted against Didier Deschamps’ tired-looking team, the 17-year-old outshone French counterparts Desire Doue and Ousmane Dembele on Thursday to advance to Sunday’s final against Portugal, the nation’s top-seeded star outshined.
On Wednesday, Portugal defeated Germany 2-1 as the host nation.
Although the match on Thursday was intended to be a young stars’ contest, it was obvious that Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League victory on Saturday in Munich had given French legs more weight, with PSG stars Dembele and Doue both disappointing.
The Spanish players eased up and assumed the game was over, but Yamal scored three goals in the Nations League’s brief history before the French scored three more goals, which came after the Spanish had led 5-1.
“It was a fantastic game,” said one player. We played very well and, in the end, deserved to win, Yamal said.
After Yamal threaded the ball through to Mikel Oyarzabal, who held off two defenders and served it on a plate for Williams to rifle to the top of the net, in the 22nd minute, Nico Williams broke the deadlock.
Three minutes later, after combining with Oyarzabal in a one-two, Mikel Merino, the hero, made it 2-0.
Spain needed goalkeeper Unai Simon to stop Doue, Mbappe, and Dembele when Theo Hernandez hit the crossbar.
However, Spain appeared to be capable of scoring at any time. After a brilliantly executed free kick, Real Madrid defender Dean Huijsen thought he had accomplished a fantastic goal, but the offside rule prevented the goal.
Huijsen, 20, played his third game for Spain. He appears to be staying, in fact.
Yamal was dusted off in the 54th minute after Adrien Rabiot’s mistaken challenge, which earned him a penalty.
After that, Pedri scored by taking Williams’ first pass with his first touch before dinking past confused Mike Maignan with his subsequent.
Mbappe had a penalty kick from Pedro Porro’s foul, but Yamal reacted by passing the ball past Maignan for 5-1.
Source: Aljazeera
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