Lamine Yamal is 18 years old. He’s playing in his first World Cup. And he just told France exactly what they’re walking into.
Spain knocked off Belgium 2-1 in the quarterfinals Friday at SoFi Stadium, punching their ticket to a semifinal showdown with France on July 14. After the match, Yamal didn’t mince words when asked about facing Kylian Mbappé and a French team that came into the tournament as one of the heavy favorites.
“If France should fear anyone, it’s us,” Yamal told reporters, via ESPN. “We have knocked them out before. We have beat them two times. Honestly, I think we’re the two best teams at the World Cup, so we’ll see what happens, but we do not have any fear.”
That’s not just trash talk. Spain has beaten France twice in knockout tournaments recently — the 2021 Nations League final and the 2024 European Championship semifinals. There’s history here. And Yamal knows it.
Spain’s run through this World Cup has been borderline dominant. They went undefeated in group play with two wins and a draw. Then they knocked off Austria and Portugal in the knockout rounds before taking down Belgium. They’ve scored 11 goals and allowed just one — a penalty against Belgium that ended a streak of five straight clean sheets.
This is Spain’s first trip to the World Cup semifinals since they won the whole thing in 2010. That team was built on tiki-taka possession and veteran leadership. This team is younger, faster, and built around Yamal, whose one goal this tournament doesn’t tell the full story of how much space he creates and how much attention he demands from defenses.
What the numbers don’t show
Yamal has only one goal so far. But advanced stats and plain old eye tests both say the same thing: he’s a nightmare to defend. He draws double teams, he finds passing lanes that don’t exist for most players, and he’s not afraid to talk a little noise after the game. That last part matters going into a semifinal against a team that expects to win.
France has talent up and down the roster. Mbappé hasn’t been at his absolute best this tournament, but he’s still Mbappé. The French defense has been stingy. On paper, France is the favorite. But Spain has the momentum, the confidence, and the memory of beating this exact team on big stages before.
“We do not have any fear,” Yamal said again.
Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET on July 14 in what could be the best game of the tournament so far. Spain is technically the underdog. But underdogs with a teenager who talks like this tend to make things interesting.
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