Heading into the Euro 2024 semifinals, France's left-back Theo Hernández had been, for my money, the best player of the tournament. He had made some stellar attacking contributions, especially considering how little his team was actually scoring, but more importantly for France's purposes, he had also been nearly perfect in defense, winning 67% of his duels and quietly quashing a number of decent attacking opportunities for opponents. If anyone had a chance at quieting Spain's precocious, young winger Lamine Yamal, it was Hernandez.
Technically, he did somewhat dampen Yamal's effectiveness. After nine shot attempts, nine chances created, 29 progressive carries and three successful one-on-ones in the box in recent matches against Georgia and Germany -- otherworldly totals for two matches -- Yamal managed just three shots, two chances created, five progressive carries and no successful one-on-ones.
Statistically, it was a merely good performance instead of something superhuman. However, in the 21st minute, Yamal drifted away from Hernandez into the middle of the pitch and, given too much space* by midfielder Adrien Rabiot, curled an absolutely gorgeous, technically perfect shot into goal from 26 meters.
That goal tied the match. Perhaps a bit shaken by the audacity of what just happened, France's defense got scrambled just four minutes later and left Dani Olmo alone to knock in the go-ahead goal on a higher-percentage shot. Spain won, 2-1, and Yamal added insult to injury with a note-perfect tactical foul on Hernandez -- himself an excellent tactical fouler -- in the 91st minute.
*OK, that's actually unfair to Rabiot. There wasn't much space, and Yamal was 26 meters from goal. The shot was worth 0.02 xG! He was basically daring the youngster to airmail a shot and end a threat. It just didn't quite work out that way.
Yamal finished Euro 2024 with that goal, four assists (ranking first overall at the tournament), 19 chances created (first), 2.6 expected points added (xPVA) from on-ball actions (first), 67 progressive carries (fifth) and five successful one-on-ones in the box (sixth). He assisted the first goal in Spain's eventual final victory over England, struck by their other incredible winger, Nico Williams. Yamal and Williams were relentless sources of optimism and ball progression for a team that, in recent tournaments, had been susceptible to horizontal movement and staid ball possession.
It's fine that Yamal's countrymate Rodri won the Player of the Tournament award instead of Yamal -- Rodri should win the Ballon d'Or, too, considering he's been a part of just one loss in his past 79 matches for club and country -- but Yamal legitimately might have been the second-best player. (Sorry, Theo, I guess that makes you're third?) It's pretty incredible considering it was his first major tournament, and it's utterly dumbfounding considering he turned only 17 years old a day before the final.
Over the past year, Yamal made what should have been an impossible transition from "good for a 16-year old" to "good" to "maybe one of the best wingers in the world." How far can he go from here?