Lamine Yamal ‘completes football’ at 19

* Lionel Messi, at 39, gazed long and hard at Argentina’s fans packed around the New York New Jersey Stadium as they sang his name after what may be the last time he graces the game’s biggest stage

* And, with the world watching, it was Lamine Yamal who offered the great Argentina icon consolation before they fell into each other’s arms

By Phil McNulty, BBC Sport

When brilliant Spain teenager Lamine Yamal embraced a tearful Lionel Messi at the end of the World Cup final, it looked and felt symbolic — a passing of the torch.

Messi, at 39, gazed long and hard at Argentina’s fans packed around the New York New Jersey Stadium as they sang his name after what may be the last time he graces the game’s biggest stage.

And, with the world watching, it was Lamine Yamal who offered the great Argentina icon consolation before they fell into each other’s arms.

Barcelona’s number 10 embracing their most legendary number 10. A different image to the amazing photo of a 20-old Messi bathing a six-month-old Lamine Yamal in September 2007 as part of a charity calendar raffle that went viral once more in the build-up to this game.

The baby boy is now a man, and Messi may be at the end of his World Cup journey.

Lamine Yamal — two decades younger and still in the infancy of his career — has effectively completed international football by lifting the World Cup two years after he came to wider prominence by winning the Euros when Spain beat England.

He, like Messi a product of Barcelona, came into the tournament troubled by a hamstring injury, but ended it as the youngest player — at 19 years and six days — to win both the World Cup and Euros.

And one of the key storylines contained within this disappointing World Cup final was how Lamine Yamal’s influence was assisted by the purist strategies of his Spain team-mates — while Messi was betrayed by Argentina’s provocative approach.

It yielded nothing, which was what it deserved.

Spain and Lamine Yamal have grown through the tournament to leave him with the world at his feet and football’s two greatest prizes in his pocket.

As well as having glorious natural gifts, he is also Spain’s lucky charm. They completed their domination of the international stage with Ferran Torres’ decisive 106th-minute strike in extra time.

Lamine Yamal has yet to lose for his country in the 28 competitive matches he has played. He has started 13 games at major tournaments and won all of them — the longest 100% win rate of any European player across major tournaments when starting.

He also became — along with 19-year-old Spain team-mate Pau Cubarsi — just the fourth and fifth teenagers to start a World Cup final and win, after Pele for Brazil in 1958, Italy defender Giuseppe Bergomi in 1982 and Kylian Mbappe with France in 2018.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente spoke afterwards of his “sincere gratitude” to Lamine Yamal: “He has played great football that will help him to mature and be even a greater footballer than he already is.

“He really sacrificed for the collective good. This is very important in my squad. In my opinion he played a great World Cup.”

And this is not simply a special talent, it is a special talent with a special temperament. He shrugged off Argentina’s obvious attempts to intimidate him as he regularly came into close contact with Nicolas Tagliafico in particular.

Former England goalkeeper and BBC Sport pundit Joe Hart summed it up well: “Not only did Lamine Yamal not react, he stood up to it. He was not rattled and he did not back down. He had the entire team trying to smash him.

“He just stayed real cool. It was real standout performance from him. Lamine Yamal is 19 years old. What a beautiful day for him. He’s 19 and has completed football.”

With virtually his whole career in front of him, and taking in the experience and influence of Spain teammates such as his captain and player of the tournament Rodri, there is every chance Lamine Yamal will add more successes like this before he is done.

In the final, Ferran Torres’ goal in the 106th minute delivered Spain its second World Cup title in a win that was tense but one-sided.

The shot was Spain’s 12th on goal, all while defending champion Argentina had produced zero. Yet for how often Spain peppered Argentina’s defense with shots, its brilliant goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez rebuffed every Spanish attempt while setting a record for saves in the World Cup final with 11.

Martínez, however, could not stop the shot rocketed by Torres after Nico Williams headed a pass his way in extra time.

The championship dethroned Argentina, which was trying to become the first repeat champion since Brazil in 1962.

Among those celebrating Spain’s victory in the stands in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium were members of the 2010 Spanish team that previously won the World Cup.

Torres appeared to seal the game later in extra time when Spain got the ball on a counterattack and he was all alone as he raced toward the goal and beat Martínez again for an apparent 2-0 lead.

But Torres was ruled offside by a shoulder, and Spain was left to survive a few wild minutes as Argentina, at last, produced two shots that threatened to forge a tie in the final moments.

Argentina played with 10 men for the final 30 minutes after Enzo Fernández was sent off for picking up his second yellow card after his challenge sent Spain’s Pau Cubarsí flying head over heels.

Playing a man down did not help Argentina’s chances, after it went the full 90 minutes of regulation without generating a single shot against Spain’s dominating possession.

Lionel Messi finished with 54 touches but just one shot: “We need to give the opponent the credit they deserve,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said after the game.

“I would have loved to know what would have happened if we still had 11 men on the pitch. There were many obstacles tonight.

“The opponent played very well of course. … The substitutions we had to make were because of injuries, not because of tactical fine-tuning.

“I already cried my heart out in the locker room. That’s why I’m not crying now, but I do have to be thankful to this group, because they were warriors, and that is the truth. We competed against an amazing team.”—Additional reporting by NBC News; editing by Maravi Express