Two of the tournament’s standout performers so far, wide men Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams have struck up a fruitful partnership on and off the pitch.
Spain’s Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal
Spain’s place in the footballing pantheon is sealed by their five senior tournament wins – three EUROs, one World Cup and one Nations League – but it’s exactly 60 years since they threatened to go all the way using a starting XI with two old-fashioned wingers in it.
That was when they won the European Championship in 1964 with the magical talents of Amancio and Carlos Lapetra.
Across the intervening generations, when trophies started to flood in, it was midfielders doing a different, possession-based, job on the touchlines – David Silva, Andrés Iniesta, Marco Asensio, Cesc Fàbregas among others, with occasional cameos for individual wide men like Pedro or Yeremy Pino.
These days, Spain’s touchlines belong to the thrilling and uplifting Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, two of the standout players of EURO2024 so far.
The former became the youngest starter in European Championship history – then laid on a goal for Dani Carvajal against Croatia to add youngest assist provider to his already startling number of blue-riband achievements.
The latter was voted Player of the Match in Spain’s 1-0 win against reigning champions Italy, giving Giovanni Di Lorenzo a testing evening, hitting the bar with a thunderous curving shot and thrilling with his daring, pace and technical skills.
It is hard to argue one is more spectacular than the other. Lamine’s age, still 16 until after this tournament ends, gives him an edge, while Williams’ backstory wins hands down.
His mother and father were forced to traverse the Sahara desert bare-footed, without food or water, in attempting to reach Spain, his mum Maria pregnant with Nico’s older brother, Iñaki.
Yamal and Williams are separated by around 70 metres across the pitch, by four years in age, and by their clubs, Barcelona and Athletic Club. However, they are united by friendship, innate daring and a common objective: winning EURO 2024.
Williams told Marca: “Lamine and I are really similar. We love to watch videos of great footballers, and we are ‘street’ players. That’s why we understand one another.
“We’re constantly kidding each other on. It’s a friendship which was born in Georgia last year – we sought each other out with the ball [in Spain’s 7-1 win] and he scored his first international goal, aged 16!
“As for me, the art of being a winger is mostly psychological – you can see fear in the defender’s eyes if you go past him and he drops off. I had a spectacular night against Italy but I don’t consider myself one of the best at this tournament.”
Yamal told EURO2024.com: “I think providing assists gives you more joy, as you’ve helped your team-mates. But when you score it’s more satisfying – it’s a big release, it feels out-of-body. I can’t put it into words.”
And, about his preternatural ability to repeatedly choose the right option when in possession, he added: “There are some moments when you think, but the majority of the time it’s without thinking. I reckon it’s a gift.”
Luis de la Fuente, who gave the 16-year-old his debut, and paired him with Williams, agrees: “Lamine’s been touched by God’s magic wand.”
Amen to that.