Lamine Yamal of Spain celebrates with his winners medal and ‘Best Young Player’ award after victory over England in the UEFA EURO 2024 final match at Olympiastadion on July 14, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Spain’s Lamine Yamal celebrated his 17th birthday in style by winning both the Euro 2024 Championship and the tournament’s best young player award. Just a day after turning 17, Yamal played a pivotal role in Spain's 2-1 victory over England in the final on July 14, 2024. He set up Nico Williams for Spain's opening goal, highlighting his significant contributions throughout the tournament.
“This is the best birthday gift I could have asked for. It’s a dream come true,” Yamal said. “It got tough when they tied the score, but I don’t know what this team is made of because we always fight back.”
Yamal's performance broke several records; he became the youngest player to appear, score, and play in a final at the European Championship. He finished the tournament with four assists and one goal, marking an impressive debut. The Barcelona player, who idolizes Lionel Messi and emerged from the La Masia academy, is also the youngest goalscorer in the Spanish league.
Kane and Olmo in Six-Way Tie for Golden Boot
England's Harry Kane concluded Euro 2024 in a six-way tie for the Golden Boot, sharing the accolade with Spain's Dani Olmo, Germany's Jamal Musiala, the Netherlands' Cody Gakpo, Slovakia's Ivan Schranz, and Georgia's Georges Mikautadze. Each player scored three goals during the tournament.
Kane, who has yet to win a major trophy for club or country, added another individual award to his collection. Despite his impressive goal-scoring record, including being top scorer at both a European Championship and a World Cup, major honours have eluded him. England's loss to Spain marks Kane’s second consecutive runner-up finish in the European Championship finals.
UEFA's decision to allow multiple players to share the top scorer award if they scored the same number of goals was a notable change from previous tournaments. In 2020, Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Golden Boot over Patrik Schick due to an assist tiebreaker.
Southgate to Discuss Future After Defeat
Following England’s 2-1 defeat to Spain, Gareth Southgate announced he would discuss his future as England’s coach. The loss, marked by Mikel Oyarzabal’s 86th-minute goal, left Southgate contemplating why his team had fallen short once again.
Asked about his plans, Southgate said, “I totally understand the question and understand you need to ask it, but I need to have those conversations with important people behind the scenes and I’m obviously not going to discuss that publicly first.”
Despite the disappointment, Southgate praised England’s young talents and their consistent presence in major tournaments since he took over in 2016. Under his guidance, England reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals in the last two World Cups and the finals of Euro 2020 and 2024.
Reflecting on his tenure, Southgate added, “It’s hard to reflect so soon after a defeat like this. Of course, to take England to two finals has never been done but we came here to win and we haven’t been able to do that.”
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