Portugal and Spain will lock horns on Sunday in the UEFA Nations League final, and ahead of the clash, Cristiano Ronaldo spoke about the meteoric rise of Barcelona phenom Lamine Yamal.
Yamal has emerged as arguably the best player in the world over the last year, shining for both club and country. The 17-year-old won the Euros last summer with Spain after dominating throughout the tournament, and also lifted the LaLiga trophy this term with Barcelona.
Ronaldo, who is no stranger to pressure at a young age, sent a strong message on Yamal’s growth.
Via France24:
“The kid has been doing very well, but what I ask is for you to let him grow, not put him under pressure. For the good of football, we need to let him grow in his own way and enjoy the talent he has,” Cristiano Ronaldo said.
There is a lot of hype around Yamal, and for good reason. He is poetry in motion on the football pitch and looks mature well beyond his years. The youngster bagged nine goals and tallied 13 assists for Barca this past season. He also scored once and set up another four in the Euros as Spain beat England in the showpiece a year ago. Yamal’s goal in that tournament was an absolute stunner, too.
The media has been focusing on this fixture as Yamal vs Cristiano, but the 40-year-old wants to focus on more than just that because both teams possess a ton of quality in their respective squads:
“There are different generations, one is coming in and another is exiting the stage. If you want to see me as another generation, then that’s OK.
“When you talk about a clash between Cristiano and someone else, that’s not how it works. The media always try to hype things up, which is a normal thing, but it’s one team versus another team.”
“You’ve been talking about Lamine a lot and you’re right to do so because he’s very good,” Ronaldo told journalists, adding “but I’d like to talk about the team.
“They’ve got Nico Williams, great midfielders like Pedri and their coach (Luis) de la Fuente is very good, very strong, very disciplined.”
Cristiano Ronaldo will aim to lead Portugal to their second-ever Nations League title, having won the inaugural tournament in 2019. Spain also took home the grand prize in 2023.
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