What if I told you that arguably the best player for Spain in this Euros wasn’t even born yet when the 2006 World Cup was happening?

That’s right. 18 years ago, Spain rocked up to Germany with a lot of young, inexperienced players and played an exciting brand of football. After scoring eight goals in three group stage games though, the lack of experience showed as they fell to France in the Round of 16.

Lamine Yamal wasn’t even born back then.

Two years later, Spain would start the golden age of dominance with a 1-0 win over Germany in the Euro 2008 final. Yamal hadn’t even turned one year of age.

He was born on July 13, 2007. In fact, today is his 17th birthday. It’s just one day before by far the biggest game of his incredibly young career— the Euro 2024 final.

Yamal started five out of six games in this tournament so far as a 16-year-old, contributing with one goal and three assists. Stats don’t even tell the whole story, as he’s been a headache for defenders because of his pace and dribbling, which stretches out teams and gives more space for other Spanish players.

When he scored an incredible equalizer against France outside of the 18-yard-box, he smashed the record books by becoming the youngest player ever to score in the Euros. He already broke the record of being the youngest player ever to play in the Euros when he started against Croatia in the first game.

Who else was this good at 16 in the modern era? Lionel Messi? Cristiano Ronaldo? Neither at 16 came even close to what Yamal is doing now. In fact, both Messi and Ronaldo only made their senior international debuts at 18.

So who is Yamal? Who is this boy wonder? This is the story of a boy from an immigrant family that came to Spain in search of a better life.

Yamal was born to a building painter from Morocco and a waitress from Equatorial Guinea. Both moved to Spain as kids from their respective countries and were very young when they had Yamal. They separated when he was three.

In fact, Yamal’s father is only 32, per Spanish newspaper AS. That means he is younger than three of Yamal’s current Spain teammates and same age as Dani Carvajal.

What’s more interesting is when Jesus Navas, another one of Yamal’s current teammates, made his Spain debut in 2009 at 24, Yamal’s father was around the same age is Yamal is right now.

There’s also been a viral photo from 2007 of a 20-year-old Messi bathing Yamal when he was a toddler. It looked like photoshop at first, but it is actually real. 

Back then, UNICEF held a community raffle offering the opportunity for a photoshoot with a Barcelona player. Yamal's family won. The player he got to take a photo with was the rising star at the time, Messi.

Is it destiny, or just coincidence? Either way, it seems like Messi blessed Yamal with his powers from the very beginning.

Growing up, Yamal constantly moved around from his father’s house to his mother’s house, but what didn’t change was his love for soccer. He had already been scouted by Barcelona at the age of six and was brought up through their famed La Masia academy.

After quickly moving up the ranks, Yamal was invited to train with the first team in the summer of 2022 by then-manager Xavi, who was impressed with his performances in youth teams. 

Yamal would go on to impress Xavi more in training and in April of last year, the manager gave him his debut for Barcelona in La Liga. At the age of 15 at the time, Yamal became the fifth youngest ever player to play in La Liga and the youngest ever for Barcelona since Armando Sagi all the way back in 1922.

He would earn his first start for Barcelona in August 20, 2023 against Cadiz, where he got standing ovation from the Cadiz fans. Less than two weeks later, he got his first call-up to the Spain senior side and then made his debut in a World Cup qualifier against Georgia, where he scored.

By doing so, Yamal broke the record as the youngest player to ever play for Spain and of course, the youngest ever to also score for Spain.

Even if Barcelona didn’t have a great season in 2023/24, one bright spot for them would be Yamal, who broke through as a winger for the team. As a 16-year-old, he played 50 games for them across all competitions last season and contributed with seven goals and seven assists.

He also had two goals and four assists for Spain in seven appearances coming into the Euros. So despite still being very young, it’s no wonder manager Luis De La Fuente put him in the starting lineup from the beginning, and Yamal has so far repaid the manager’s faith.

This is an amazing story of how a young kid from an immigrant family suddenly became a hero to all of Spain at the age of 16. He hasn't forgotten his roots either. Yamal would celebrate goals with his usual 304 celebration. 304 is the postal code of neighborhood Rocafonda, one of the most impoverished in Catalonia. That is where he used to live with his father's Moroccan family when he was young.

Things can still get better for Yamal, if Spain defeat England tomorrow and become a European champion once again.

By doing so, Spain will be winning their third Euros in the last five editions, and they will be doing it with a young squad that has 10 players 26 and younger.

Can Yamal make his fairytale story even better on Sunday night in Berlin? We shall see. For now, let’s wish him a very happy birthday.