CNN
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Before the ball was kicked on Thursday, the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League between France and Spain were billed as a clash between two modern greats, and the match certainly did not disappoint.
Inspired by teenage superstar yamaru and others, red I improved the goal fest and hit the be Blues 5-4 with the best classic ever.
As a result, Spain will advance to the finals, which will face Portugal on June 8th.
The 9-goal thriller, the best scoring match in the tournament’s short history, is probably not surprising given the number of world-class forwards on the pitch.
France boasted offensive talent such as Killian Mbappe. He boasted Champions League heroes Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé, but it was 17-year-old Spanish Star Yamal who stole the show again.
The teenager scored two goals in the match, producing another memorable performance.
“When you play two great teams like these, you sometimes see a lot of goals,” Yamal said after the game.
“They will torment you to the end, but despite the mistakes we made, we went to the final. We knew what we wanted to do. We wanted to make history. The biggest thing when you’re winning is keep winning.”
The youngster took on the role to play in the Spanish opening goal, hitting the man on the right wing before crossing the box. The ball was brilliantly endured by Mikel Oyalzabal before the striker teeed up Nico Williams, who made his finish life into the roof of the net in the 22nd minute.
Just three minutes later, the Euro 2024 champions doubled their lead. Oyalzabal once again provided the assist, but this time it was Arsenal’s Mikel Merino who produced the finish as Spain took a 2-0 lead into the break.
In the second half, there was a more freer-flowing offensive play, and Yamal quickly got on the scoresheet.
The winger was dropped into the box and stepped up to take the subsequent penalty. Despite his age, Yamal was confident before handing a spot kick back to the back of the net in the 53rd minute.
Two minutes later, France went down 4-0 after midfielder Pedri produced an amazingly chipped finish and placed the game in bed.
But that was when France and Mbappe took the central stage. The Real Madrid striker responded with his own penalty in the 59th minute, cutting the deficit to 4-1.
However, the French revival was shortened by Yamal after the youngsters ran through balls and thrust Spain 5-1.
Presumably confident in victory, Spain seemed to have taken his foot off the gas and opened the door for a possible comeback from Blues.
Debuting Rayan Cherki scored a game goal in the 79th minute, bringing his sweetly hit volleyball to 5-2.
A unique goal from Spanish Dani Vivienne gave France a faint hope of hope during the closing stages, and the comeback was almost complete when Randal Koro Muani got 5-4 on time.
But France simply ran out of time and looked frustrated when the judge blew his whis full time.
“There were some bursts of plays that we didn’t have in a long time,” Mbappé tried to summarise the 90 minutes after the match.
“But in just 10 minutes of the first half, we acknowledged two goals. And the same thing happened in the second half.”
Spain’s victory now hosts a fantastic all-Iberian final against Portugal. This shows that 17-year-old Yamal will face 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo in the battle between two generations of greats.