“I’m not afraid of being the youngest to debut in a Euro Cup”

“When I leave the defender for the first time, I already see him scared”

MADRID, 19 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Spanish international Lamine Yamal has downplayed the fact of being the youngest player to debut in a European Championship and has assured that he is “not” scared by that record, in addition to highlighting that Spain has “a very good group” that aspires to win the title in Germany.

“It’s one more fact. It doesn’t scare me, I play the same. I try to focus on playing well and I think in the end it only helps me because when I do something well it will be magnified because of my age, obviously. I think it only helps me,” He indicated in an interview on COPE’s El Partidazo with Juanma Castaño.

He was also excited that UEFA president Alexander Ceferin said he would sign him if he had a team. “It is a pride that people of that level recognize what you do because in the end you play for that, to enjoy and for people to recognize your work. It makes you very happy that people recognize your work, and it makes me very happy that Ceferin say that,” he acknowledged.

On the other hand, the FC Barcelona player assured that his teammates and rivals treat him “like a normal player” despite being young. “The rivals especially, because I don’t think they’ll let me pass because I’m sixteen years old,” he said.

He also explained how he faces his rivals. “When I take the ball away, if I see that I’m one on one, I always go for the side; in the end, it’s a very psychological game because once I leave him, he’s already more scared and I’m improvising. When I notice that he is nervous, I tell the coach. I tell him to leave me one-on-one the entire game because I will go after him all the time,” he said.

In addition, he revealed that many times they ask him to go down to defend. “The good thing is that I’m used to it because Xavi at Barca made us go down a lot. I always try to help in defense. I’m not the one who defends the most on the team, but I try to help,” he said, before talking about the similarities between playing for Barça and in the selection.

“The game is quite similar. It is true that in the national team we are playing more directly, with me and Nico, but it is quite similar,” he said, ensuring that the playing style of Xavi and Luis de la Fuente “is very different”. “They try to give you different things. Xavi was much more intense and Luis de la Fuente gives me more talks and he is calmer,” he said.

On the other hand, he revealed that he has already spoken with Hansi Flick, Barça’s new coach. “I spoke to him before the game. He told me good luck, that he was looking forward to the season starting and I told him the same thing,” she stressed, wishing she could be “a Barca legend.”

In another vein, he explained that he combines training with studies. “Some jokes are made saying ‘go study’. Since we have a lot of free time it’s not like I say ‘today at least two hours’; when I’m in the room with nothing to do I pick up the iPad and do a couple of homework, and when I get up They call Nico or Fermín to play Play Bass with them,” he joked.

“I suppose the grades will be sent to me online, because it depends on how far we go in the Euro Cup, which I hope will be very far, I won’t go back to class anymore. If we reach the final I won’t go back, I’ll go directly on vacation.” , he added.

He also said that he gets along “very well” with Álvaro Morata. “He gives me a lot of advice before the games and I get along very well with him. He tells stories that make us very funny. I didn’t know it either, when I arrived I thought he was going to be such a serious captain, but no. The truth is that it makes me very funny,” he said.

Furthermore, he assured that Rodri is the national team player who has surprised him the most. “Rodri, obviously, surprised me a lot, and Grimaldo surprised me because of the hitting he has, it’s crazy. In training he scores every great goal…”, he stated. “The group we have managed to put together to get to the Euro Cup is very good, really. I have been talking about it with Unai -Simón, who is one of the players with the most experience, and he also says that we have made a very good group and that we all get along very well,” he said.

Yamal also spoke about his hug with Dani Carvajal after the match against Croatia. “I understand that people think that if one plays for Real Madrid and the other plays for Barca we are going to fight, but obviously we get along very well,” he said, ensuring that the white players are “very good people.” “They take care of us a lot. I didn’t know Nacho and he is very nice. He takes care of us young people a lot and everything is very good. You can see that we all get along very well and that is what leads us to win Euro Cups and big titles,” he continued .

Finally, he spoke about the applause he received at the Santiago Bernabéu during the Spain-Brazil match in March. “I’m very happy. For a stadium like the Bernabéu to applaud you, especially with the national team, is a lot of happiness. It was a dream to be applauded like this, playing a game with the national team,” he concluded.

2024-06-18 22:23:18
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