DALLAS STADIUM \u2014<\/strong> Lamine Yamal has no fear.<\/p>\n We already knew that about the teenage sensation, who turned 19 on Monday \u2014 one day before the biggest match of his young career. He looked every bit the superstar while confidently addressing a packed room of reporters, diamond necklaces draped around his neck.<\/p>\n Spain faces France in the World Cup semifinal Tuesday afternoon at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, with a place in the final on the line. It marks the third straight summer the two nations have met in the semifinals of a major tournament. Spain won the previous two encounters \u2014 a dramatic 5-4 victory in the 2025 Nations League and a 2-1 triumph at Euro 2024.<\/p>\n Lamine Yamal speaks to the media during a Spain Press Conference at Dallas Stadium on Monday. (Photo by Hector Vivas – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n Yamal played in both of those matches. He was just 16 during the Euros, when he became the youngest goalscorer in men’s major tournament history by scoring a stunning equalizer against France. Spain went on to lift the European Championship trophy, and Yamal was named the tournament’s best young player. He has since helped Barcelona win back-to-back La Liga titles.<\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty more accolades and trophies to come. And he hopes that starts with another victory over Les Bleus on Tuesday.<\/p>\n “Tomorrow will be a very special day,” Yamal said via interpreter during Monday\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n While soccer\u2019s most famous stars have dominated headlines at this World Cup, Yamal has been on the quieter side of things. Even his younger brother has captured the hearts of fans around the world. Yamal, though, has scored only once, with 10 shots on target.\u00a0<\/p>\n He entered the summer recovering from a left hamstring injury, but quickly regained his fitness and scored 10 minutes into his first World Cup start in Spain\u2019s 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the group stage.<\/p>\n On Spain\u2019s social media account, Yamal called it “the most important goal I have scored so far.”<\/p>\n Monday, the spotlight was on him. He\u2019s aware his performances have been debated in the media. But any criticism doesn\u2019t seem to faze him.<\/p>\n “Everyone is saying that I\u2019m not giving my best performance,” Yamal said via interpreter. “So you shouldn\u2019t expect anything from me.”\u00a0<\/p>\n After Spain\u2019s 2-1 win over Belgium last week, Yamal was asked about playing France again in a knockout game. Given the teams’ recent history, he said that “if France has to fear anyone, it should be us, in my opinion. We were the ones that knocked them out before.”<\/p>\n Yamal answered honestly when asked about those comments.<\/p>\n “I was asked whether I feared France, and I said no because we are the European champions,” Yamal said, plainly. “And we don\u2019t fear anyone.”\u00a0<\/p>\n French players mostly seemed unbothered by what Yamal said.<\/p>\n “For me, it\u2019s a sign of confidence,” defender Jules Kound\u00e9, who plays with Yamal at Barcelona, said via interpreter. “He always does this. So I see nothing as an extra motivation for him and that\u2019s it, that\u2019s all.”<\/p>\n Added Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery, through translation: “Football is a team sport. Lamine has extraordinary qualities. He can do anything \u2014 shoot the ball, dribble, pass the ball, everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n “But we also have our qualities. We have our attacking players, we have substitutes, it\u2019s a collective sport. And before talking about Lamine, we should talk about all of Spain. They have world-class players in all positions, and the same goes for our squad.”<\/p>\n Lamine Yamal before the World Cup quarterfinal match against Belgium at Los Angeles Stadium. Spain won, 2-1. (Photo by Alex Pantling – FIFA\/FIFA via Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY DALLAS STADIUM \u2014 Lamine Yamal has no fear. We already knew that about the teenage sensation, who turned 19 on Monday \u2014 one day before the biggest match of his young career. He looked every bit the superstar while confidently addressing a packed room of reporters, diamond necklaces draped around his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}