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Spain star Lamine Yamal has a chance to go down in history in the widest possible way, following in the footsteps of Brazilian legend Pele, mainly after participating in the quarter-final match against Belgium in the World Cup.
The Spanish national team will soon meet its Belgian counterpart in the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup at the “Sophie” stadium in Los Angeles.
Spain’s starting line-up included the presence of Lamine Yamal, in addition to his Barcelona teammate; Defender Pau Kuparsi, both are not yet 20 years old.
According to statistics network Opta, Spain are the first in 68 years to field mostly under-20 players in their World Cup quarter-final squad.
The last team to do so was Brazil against Wales at the 1958 World Cup, where the legendary Pele was one of these two elements, and he was just 17 years old.
In that match, Pele scored his first-ever World Cup goal to lead Brazil to the semi-finals, before finishing all the way to the final and winning the title for the first time in history.
Yamal will be hoping to follow in Pele’s footsteps at a first World Cup by scoring in the quarter-finals, but this will be his second goal of the tournament and will then see him through to the semi-finals before winning the title for the second time in history since 2010.
