Football prodigy Lamine Yamal of Spain gave his best young player award and championship medal to his girlfriend Alex Padilla after his team defeated England in the Euro 2024 final.
After the final whistle on July 14 (local time), Spain’s players celebrated by lifting the Euro 2024 title and rejoicing with their families and loved ones in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
For the first time, Yamal made his girlfriend Padilla, who is the same age as him, known to the world. The 17-year-old midfielder grinned as he posed for a picture with his girlfriend, giving her the championship gold and the title of best young player in Euro 2024.
Padilla had her boyfriend’s name and shirt number on the back of the Spain jersey she was wearing.
Marca claims that Padilla, who has over 300,000 TikTok followers, went to a few games at Euro 2024 with Yamal’s family.
Yamal had an incredible tournament, breaking several records: he was the youngest player to compete in a European tournament, the youngest to assist and score a goal, the youngest to compete in a European final, the youngest to win the championship.
The 17-year-old’s highlight was a breathtaking goal against France in the semifinals that tied the game. He curled the ball from 25 metres into the top corner and struck the inside of the post before going in. As a result, he became the youngest player to play and score in a European or World Cup semifinal, shattering the two records held by Brazilian great Pele for 68 years at a major competition.
Yamal continued to impress in the Berlin final, helping Nico Williams.
With four assists at Euro 2024, Yamal tied Steven Zuber in 2020, Aaron Ramsey, Eden Hazard in 2016, and Ljubinko Drulovic in 2000 for the most assists in a single Euro tournament.
Nasraoui, his father, anticipated that his son would surpass the great Lionel Messi as a footballer.
“You have no idea how happy I am for Yamal,” he stated to The Telegraph, a British daily. “I’m always confident Yamal will succeed. I think he can surpass Messi with all of his efforts.”
The rising talent will take a few weeks off before reporting to Barcelona to get ready for the 2024–2025 campaign.