This year was Spain’s year in football. The year they became European champions; The most dominant midfielder in the world, Rodri, was deservedly named the best footballer on the planet; And this year also saw the country’s 17-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal introduce her comical talents to the world. Sadly, injury ended his year on a somber note, but not before he offered a global audience a glimpse into his amazing gifts and the future of the game.
Curlers and benders from his gliding, gilded left foot at the Euros create a montage of the greatest goals scored in the Championship. They were snakes wrapped in silk skins. He cut in, he spat, he ripped the ball in, he fizzed the ball out. He pretended and floated like a frictionless gnome. As if bored with regular cheating, he’s flaunting his latest toy, Trivela, one of the game’s most outrageous tricks. It is an out-swinging cross (often a long-ranger) lobbed from the outside of the boot that twists and turns (providing tremendous backspin) when allowed to land.
The term is Portuguese—its best exponent is Portuguese forward Ricardo Quaresma—from tres dedos, or three toes because the ball is cut with the three outer toes of the foot. At first glance – deception always begins with the eyes – it looks like he’s shooting. It looks weak, without much speed or venom, swarming floaty, its only intention is to tease. Then it escapes the men and their lungs from the feet and heads and falls on the right man in the right place.
Three out of nine assists for Barcelona have been three-pointers. The most fun was against Villarreal. He received the ball in his own half a few yards from the halfway line. He zips forward, with defenders blocking the path of his classical in-swinger, rather than closing in. They were expecting to cut him into the box, so dragging him to the touchline, on his weaker right foot, ready to fly their body to the left, unsuspecting Yamal’s deception.
Yamal then stops, considers, shifts the angle of his body by a small half-step and spears into the box, floating the ball into Rafinhia’s path. With the ball hanging in the air, four defenders followed, each waving their arms and legs to thwart the ball but to no avail. It lands right at the feet of Rafinhia, who nails the target.
Yamal almost scored a goal against Sevilla. This time he was on the left side, on the edge of the box. Markers again obscured the path of his inside bending curler, but he stunned them with a bead that snaked away. It required a full stretch save from goalkeeper Orjan Nyland to deny the goal. A three-time assistant against Mallorca jokingly asked a television anchor: “Is there any way you make those passes in video games?” He smiled and replied: “Yes, you can be fair. You have to press the L2 button and then pass, go and try it! I think this is a pass I can do very well, I’m confident in it, so I Will not stop trying.
Spain’s Lamine Yamal reacts during the semi-final match between Spain and France in Munich, Germany, July 9, 2024. Left by Rodri from Spain. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
It’s a difficult craft to perfect—one that Quaresma says requires a bit of God’s gift and the devil’s luck. The Portuguese was discouraged from performing Trivela, as the peak of his career unfolded at a time when managers fetishized systems, where Trivela-like frippiness was discouraged, when individual temperament was interpreted as contradictory to collective opinion. The demand was for two-foot, 360-degree passing metronomes. Tricksters and romantics were largely outliers or castaways.
Yamal strikes the perfect blend between system and individual, freeing the game from the clutches of excessive structuralism and breathing in the fresh air of improved talent the game has long craved. In this sense, he is not a classical La Masia player, but instead bridges schools and streets. He is as much La Masia as Mataro, the city where he grew up and honed his moves. His playing has rich notes of the samba as well as the deft chords of the Spanish passing game. He can free the game from its oppressive tactical cages, without disrupting its order.
It is symbolic that his rise runs parallel to Pep Guardiola’s crumbling Manchester City empire. Pep is the ideal symbol of the modern game; Maybe it’s getting old. There comes a point when every philosophy needs rethinking, revision and possibly scrapping. The future may be Yamal and his ilk, when people work the system, and not the other way around, when rigid structures no longer stifle individual creativity.
The social and cultural dimension of his rise is also wide. He embodies the air of multiculturalism that is sweeping Spain and Spanish football. He is of Moroccan-Equatorial Guinean descent, raised in a city heavily populated by immigrants from North Africa. Such are his national team teammates Nico Williams and Robert Sanchez, Alejandro Balde and Ansu Fati from multiracial backgrounds.
So, it could be that Rodri was crowned the best footballer on the planet. But what caught the eye was Yamal, the future footballer. Or the future of football itself.
Why should you buy our membership?
You want to be the smartest in the room.
You want access to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t want to be confused and misinformed.
Choose your subscription package