Spain star Yamal's hometown buzzing over teen's Euro success

It's not yet midday but there is a real buzz inside the local bar, El Cordobes, which is still reeling with excitement after Yamal, who used to come in with his dad, clutching a football, shot home the sublime goal against France that helped propel Spain to Sunday's Euro 2024 final.

For years, people here to the north of Barcelona knew he was different but nobody could have predicted the lad would go on to become the youngest player to score in a European Championship. "We knew he was going to play with Barcelona's first team," bar owner Juan Carlos Serrano says with a proud smile.  "But we had no idea he would have the kind of impact he's having now."

On the wall behind him is a framed Barcelona shirt signed by Yamal that his father gave Serrano as thanks for his support during the years when the pair used to go to the bar before taking the train into the city for him to train with the club's youth team - until he signed with their famed La Masia youth academy.

That was the last day Yamal came into the bar, but not the last time he came back to this district of Mataro, a city of 130,000 people that lies 30 kilometres (18 miles) up the coast from Barcelona where he spent some of his childhood and where many locals proudly show off photos with him.

'A proud, happy father'

After his parents separated, Yamal lived between the nearby town of Granollers and Mataro, but his constant visits to his grandmother, who arrived from Morocco decades ago and still lives in Rocafonda, has kept up his ties to the neighbourhood where his father is greeted as a local hero.

Just back from Germany, where he watched Spain's semi-final victory over France semi-final match, his neighbours are crowding around to congratulate him over his son's stunning goal, which he still gets excited about. "I lived every moment in that stadium just like any other Spanish fan, going crazy," says Mounir Nasraoui exuberantly standing in the doorway of the bar.

And he will soon be going back, with more to celebrate: his son turns 17 on Saturday and on Sunday, he's hoping for victory in the final against England. "As a father, I am proud, happy and grateful," he said, thanking his neighbours for their support. "This neighbourhood is proud of being the place where Lamine Yamal comes from."

'We have a star here!'

Several streets away, the blazing sun is not enough to stop the kids from playing football on a local pitch where Yamal too spent hours playing when he was small. Everyone wants to be like him in this neighbourhood which is thrown into the limelight every time the young star player signs its 304 postcode.

"People get really excited about Lamine Yamal because nothing like this has ever happened here before," explains Mamadou Sow, 32, who works in catering. "That gives the kids even more desire to do sports and other things ," he told AFP, saying he was overjoyed to "finally" see the neighbourhood, which has come in for some negative press in recent years, being mentioned on TV for positive reasons.

"It's exciting." Life has not been simple in this district on the outskirts of Mataro whose postcode is 08304 and which has a large immigrant population and a lower income than other more affluent neighbourhoods. "We've always had a bad reputation for crime and other things, and to have someone so important shedding a different light on the neighbourhood is really positive," said Rocio Escandell, head of the Rocafonda residents' association.

Despite his youth, Yamal has long been venerated in his childhood home. Outside the bakery that his uncle used to run by the local football pitch is a large painted image of him wearing a Barca shirt, his arms crossed and fingers signing the number 304. Jauad Darraz, the new owner, is carrying out renovations so he can open a new bar.

But there are some things he does not intend to change. "We're changing everything except the picture," he grins, referring to the painting. "I like it because Lamine Yamal is from the neighbourhood... We have a star here!."

 

July 11, 2024