Has the fate of the Ballon d’Or been decided? Lamine Yamal crushed France

Spain advanced to the Nations League final with a 5–4 victory.

The Nations League semi-final between Spain and France was billed as a Ballon d’Or duel.

The main candidates for the Golden Ball, Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé, were facing each other.

And after 90 minutes, it seemed impossible that the France Football award would go to the Frenchman.

Lamine Yamal was the overwhelming star of the Stuttgart semi-final.

It was he who started the La Roja goal celebrations in the 22nd minute. Lamine Yamal accelerated to full speed, challenging Theo Hernández. The super teenager passed the ball to Mikel Oyarzabal, who fought it out to Nico Williams, who was waiting nearby.

The Basque striker powerfully fired it into the roof of the goal with his left foot.

Up until then, France had been the clearly stronger team. But the opening goal turned the course of the match 180 degrees.

Just a few minutes later, the Basque axis was at work again. This time, Oyarzabal passed Mikel Merino for a through ball, and he completed the 2–0 half-time lead.

Despite the numbers, Spain’s best player was goalkeeper Unai Simón, who frustrated Les Bleus’ forwards with his saves.

Nine-goal celebration

France coach Didier Deschamps’s expression became even more stormy at the start of the second half. Lamine Yamal caused panic in the French defence, and Adrien Rabiot had to bring him down.

English referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot.

Lamine Yamal himself scored the penalty and secured Spain’s victory at this stage.

The match turned into a humiliation for France from the very next attack, when Williams passed to Pedri to score.

Kylian Mbappé raised Les Bleus’ hopes a little with his 4-1 penalty, but Lamine Yamal extinguished them almost immediately.

The Ballon d’Or has never been awarded to a teenager, but the Barcelona star now has a strong case to change that statistic. He first humiliated stopper Clément Lenglet and then surprised France’s Mike Maignan with a clever header.

The 1–5 defeat was enough for Dembélé. He went to the bench, and from there he watched as Rayan Cherki scored the most spectacular goal of the match on his international debut with a stylish volley.

The final score of 5–4 for Spain was achieved by an own goal by La Roja defender Dani Viviani and a header by French substitute Randal Koko Muani.

Spain will play Portugal in the Nations League final on Sunday. That will see the confrontation between 17-year-old Lamine Yamali and 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo.

Dembélé has a lot of work to do to stay motivated for the bronze medal match against Germany.