Yamal a star in making
ENGLAND have been warned to watch out for Spain’s young guns at Euro 2024 after they helped blitz Northern Ireland 5-1.
Barcelona midfielder Pedri, 21, bagged his first two Spain goals while his clubmate Lamine Yamal, 16, provided two assists and Nico Williams, 21, one.
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill was highly impressed by the three young attackers and says England should be wary of them.
Spain face Croatia in their opening game in Germany on Saturday and O’Neill said: “I think this Spanish team has the capability to go very far in the tournament.
“Maybe the players don’t have the exposure that some of the
English players have, possibly through the Premier League, but I think Spain can compete with any team in the tournament.
“It will be interesting to see how they do that. Teams will try to stop Rodri getting on the ball. They will play against teams with more attacking threat than we have so defensively they will have a different challenge.
Torment
“But this Spanish team will only continue to get better.”
O’Neill struggled to believe that Yamal is only 16 after watching him torment his defence at Majorca’s Son Moix Stadium.
“He’s an incredible player, an incredible young player,” he said.
“Nico Williams, on the other side, was terrific as well and those are players who will play right at the top of the game.
“They’re going to be world stars so for our players it was great to get that exposure playing against them.”
The thumping ended Northern Ireland’s three-match unbeaten run and Conor Bradley claims they must learn a painful lesson.
The Liverpool man said: “They’re a worldclass team. They’ll try to win the Euros and for us the game was a big learning curve.
“Hopefully we can take that into the World Cup qualifying campaign next year.”