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With his record-breaking stunner that sent France home and Spain to their first final in 12 years, LAMINE YAMAL meted out a dose of footballing justice.
With an immediate classic, Yamal became the youngest striker in Euros history, defying the pragmatists in Munich.
12Lamine Yamal celebrated becoming the Euros youngest ever goalscorerCredit: PA
12The 16-year-old netted a stunning curler from rangeCredit: Getty
12Quarter-final hero Dani Olmo then came up with the goods again by netting their secondCredit: Reuters
12The two goals secured Spain’s spot in the finalCredit: AP
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Dani Olmo scored the winning goal four minutes after Randal Kolo Muani’s first goal was cancelled out by Barcelona’s next big thing.
France did demonstrate their ability to attack here, as evidenced by Kylian Mbappe’s decision to remove his mask and display his broken nose, but it was too little, too late to help them cross the finish line.
The French sensation advanced to the round of four by defeating his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo, but was outclassed by a winger who is presumably still too young to remember growing up idolising Mbappe.
This was a titanic match at a competition where major teams are generally renowned for falling short of expectations.In an attempt to finally get his forward line clicking in this tournament, Deschamps has experimented with them once again.
For the first time in his ten years as a starter in a knockout match at a big event, Antoine Griezmann was benched.
After taking off his disguise, Mbappe resumed his previous appearance.
After seven minutes, the Parisian was racing ahead, only to be stopped by Jesus Navas’s slide.
12Randal Kolo Muani nodded France into an early leadCredit: Reuters
12It was France’s first open play goal of the tournament that wasn’t an own goalCredit: AFP
Two minutes later he set up the opener. Found in space by Dembele on the left, Mbappe lifted a lovely cross to the far post where Kolo Muani drifted off the back of Aymeric Laporte to head in.
It was a carbon copy of a chance Spain had crafted not long before, only Fabian Ruiz headed over from Yamal’s cross when he should have hit the target.
Mbappe’s resurrection caught Spain off-guard. They looked unsure on the ball and short of confidence.
The France captain drifted inside Navas from the left but saw his drive blocked by Nacho.
It looked like Les Bleus had turned up at just the wrong time for Spain.
But it only takes a moment to turn games of this magnitude, a flash of inspiration can change everything.
The thing is, those moments – in the pressure cooker of a semi-final – do not usually come from the boot of a 16-year-old. But this teenager is a bit different.
Spain managed to push forward but were stuck in front of France’s formidable defence, which had shipped just one goal before now – from the spot.
Records like that are merely challenges to some players.
Yamal twisted and turned, ignored the call of Nico Williams to clip the ball his way, cut inside Rabiot and bent an all-time great goal past Mike Maignan – clipping the far post on the way in for a final flourish.
It was a moment to make everyone watching feel inadequate, wondering where they were at 16.
Not here, not doing that.
In fact, no one has. Yamal is the youngest ever player to appear in a Euros or World Cup semi-final and he did that.
France were now the ones in a daze – and La Roja took advantage. After a blockbuster from Yamal, there was a show of class from Olmo.
Yamal watched on from the side as his team-mates saw out their 2-1 resultCredit: Getty
With a powerful header, William Saliba headed a cross from Navas towards the stomach of the RB Leipzig player. He flicked the ball up and left to take possession, then right with a second touch to go by Aurelien Tchouameni and struck the far corner with his third.
In the span of four minutes, Jules Kounde made an incredible turnaround as he swung a leg towards the ball and saw it settle in the back of the net.
France could have been behind within minutes of the resumption, but they were able to slow the red wave until the break.
After being let loose, Williams raced down the left and was only a half-second away from beating Maignan, who had taken off from his area, to the ball.
After the panic, France got better. Before Mbappe tried to test the custodian from an angle, Tchouameni headed a Dembele corner into the hands of Unai Simon.
De la Fuente decided to replace the 38-year-old Navas with Dani Vivian, a central defender, in order to face the France captain after that opening.
On the opposite side, though, there was danger as Simon’s quick reflexes denied a Dembele cross before it could reach Mbappe for a tap-in, and Dayot Upamecano missed a corner header with his far post header.
This was just as perilous as France had appeared during the competition. As it happens, they can actually perform the enjoyable things.
Spain was in a war and needed to demonstrate the kind of unity that had come so naturally to France up to this moment.
At times, they were really vulnerable, with Dembele being especially risky, and Theo Hernandez missing a fantastic opportunity to shoot over and into the French group behind the goal.
With five minutes remaining, Mbappe executed a similarly excellent break.
With Rodri in charge, Spain managed to hang on and tried to deflate the opposition by retaining the ball whenever they could. Yamal even demonstrated his ability to do dirty work by bodying Hernandez in extra time. Once more, sixteen.
For the first time since winning Euro 2012, La Roja are finalists and have proven they are capable of doing it all.
May God bless whoever is waiting for them in Berlin.
But the goal was later awarded to the SpaniardCredit: AP
And it resulted in Spain securing their spot in the finalCredit: AFP