Lamine Yamal named Kopa Trophy winner

Unbeatable and inevitable. Lamine Yamal's breakthrough in elite football is difficult to repeat. In terms of peak level and age. He made his debut at the age of 15 with Barcelona and at 16 with the Spanish national team. But the 2023-24 was his real breakthrough. His ID card never mattered: the maturity with which he plays escapes logic and incites to live his present, although it is no less certain that his future dazzles and enraptures.

Barca did not do well and the climate was not the most comfortable for a young player, but the winger performed at a very high level and also extrapolated it to national teams with a European Championship that dispelled all doubts about the winner of this Kopa Trophy 2024, which already belongs to Lamine. The first... and maybe the last. Essentially because he is already starting to be ready to compete for greater heights.

An award that names the best young footballer -under 21- in the world today. In the case of Lamine Yamal, because of his talent and consistency despite his youth, it is true that it is also a first step towards the glory of fighting for the most prized prize: the Ballon d'Or. For the moment, the Spaniard wins this Kopa on merit and after a career in which he was already a strong favourite before it became official.

Zaire-Emery, Joao Neves, Savinho, Arda Guler, Alejandro Garnacho or his teammate Pau Cubarsi were among his competitors. But Lamine's 2023-24 is on another level. The winger beat Guler, Mainoo, Savinho and Cubarsi, second, third, fourth and fifth respectively.

A total of 60 club and international appearances. He started the campaign still as a rookie and with minutes, but without being a regular in Xavi's eleven, who included Lamine Yamal in many of his rotations. The coach still did not allow him to take the ‘L’ off the back of the car. However, his performance went from strength to strength. Little by little, he took his chances and at the start of 2024 he already took that step forward to be a regular - at least usually - in the eleven. He became a constant generator of chances. Not afraid of heights, not even on big stages.

Before this season, the best version of Lamine Yamal had been seen in the Spanish national team. In some of their matches prior to the European Championship and, above all, during it. It was his real turning point. In a great tournament and after a somewhat grey and turbulent season at Barca, the winger was one of the best players of the tournament, which, moreover, was won by ‘la Roja’. All that was missing to decide this Kopa Trophy. And with several epochal photos, including the goal against France that served to start the comeback in the semi-finals.

Lamine Yamal closed the campaign with 60 matches: 40 wins, 9 draws and 11 defeats. In statistical terms, eight goals and 14 assists in just over 3,600 minutes played. And a title in his trophy cabinet: the European Championship with Spain. Now, also the Kopa Trophy.