Current European champion. Reigning Olympic champion. Runner-up of the Nations League, having won the title in the previous edition. And World Cup finalist. Lamine Yamal was right when he said that if anyone should be afraid, it was France. Because of that trophy case full of successes in the last four years and because of the direct confrontations against the French team, defeated for the third consecutive time by their worst enemy. The bleu team has a bunch of stars, but Spain, as a unit, intimidates, scares, and overwhelms. They have now gone 37 matches unbeaten, matching the all-time record held by Italy. Luis de la Fuente and Lamine Yamal’s team is a competitive beast that sent the 2018 champion and 2022 runner-up to third and fourth place. Luis de la Fuente’s team, which turns everything it touches into gold, is the ogre of the championship. The Spanish team dominates the international stage like no other. A stage where they have nothing to envy anyone, neither with the ball nor without it. On the contrary.
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Six single-match knockout rounds between Lamine Yamal and Mbappé and sixth time the Frenchman fails
Because it is a titanic team, with the record man in goal, Unai Simón, with only one goal conceded and more secure than ever, with the Cubarsí-Laporte tandem that forms an unbeatable pair, with a Pedro Porro in breakout form who also scores goals, with a Ballon d’Or recovered in midfield, like Rodri, with an Olmo more consistent than ever, with a two-time Champions League winner like Fabián, with an Oyarzabal with five goals, the same as David Villa in South Africa and Emilio Butragueño in Mexico, and with Lamine Yamal as the brand image, as the flag bearer of an entire generation.
A boy of only 19 years capable of kicking racism from Mariano Rajoy by speaking with a sensibility so foreign to politics and who plays with the conviction and daring with which he used to pull tricks in the squares of Rocafonda.
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The Barcelona player did not score but forced a decisive penalty and once again won the duel against Mbappé. Six single-match knockout rounds between the two and six times the French striker’s team, a sore loser, falls to the canvas, who charged at Unai Simón and threatened to leave the field without greeting either opponents or teammates.
L’Équipe already said it after confirming that the opponent was Spain. “Red alert,” the newspaper headlined. Reality confirmed their fears, since their dream forward line was minimized. If Mbappé barely touched the ball, the same can be said of Dembélé, Barcola, Olise, Doué, or Cherki. From shredding rival defenses to being devoured by Spain’s collective machinery, which did not allow them a single clear chance. On France’s National Day, it was la roja who threw the party. “Olé, olé” chants were even heard in Dallas while the French coach, Didier Deschamps, was a desolate man, without resources and without a speech. At midnight the Sanfermines ended but the Pobre de mí was sung by the bleu team. From Johannesburg to New York. From 2010 to 2026. From Vicente del Bosque to Luis de la Fuente. From one embroidered star to a second one appearing on the horizon. The final remains, but the path is chapeau.
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