Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni has said that Lamine Yamal is an exceptional player and his team would have liked to lock him in his room during their FIFA World Cup final against Spain.
In attack,
Yamal could prove to be Spain’s match-winner. The 19-year-old Barcelona winger, who starred in Spain’s triumphant European Championship campaign two years ago, has yet to hit his electrifying best at this tournament as he continues to regain full sharpness after recovering from a hamstring injury.
But Yamal produced glimpses of his brilliance in the semi-final against France, winning the penalty that handed La Roja a crucial lead before seeing what would have been a brilliant third goal ruled out by the narrowest of offside decisions.
“How to stop Yamal? I wish we could lock Lamine in his room! Lamine Yamal is a truly exceptional player. This kid is a treasure for football and he is still so very young, with so much more to offer,” Scaloni said while speaking to the media.
“He is a talent who will bring Spain a lot of joy in the future… but we hope that would not be on Sunday. He is, like Leo, one of those players who is incredibly hard to mark,” Scaloni added.
Spain manager Luis de la Fuente will have a personal battle on the touchline as well, coming up against former protégé Scaloni, the Argentina coach he once mentored.
“We analysed Spain because we were supposed to face them in March, but since December, we had also been studying every possible opponent at the World Cup. In the end, we didn’t analyse Spain more than any other national team,” Scaloni said.
De la Fuente, 65, became Spain’s head coach in 2022 after a successful spell in charge of the nation’s youth teams. Four years earlier, in 2018, he had mentored Scaloni while the future Argentina boss was completing his professional coaching licence.
