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Yamal gradually became the world's number one superstar, while Ronaldo entered the twilight of his career. |
One is a 40-year-old living legend with 137 goals for Portugal, the other is just 17 years old conquering Europe with the Spanish national team. And in Munich, Ronaldo and Messi will meet for the first time in a confrontation that promises to be dramatic.
On July 13, 2007, while Ronaldo was on summer vacation after a successful season with Manchester United, winning the Premier League, scoring 23 goals and gradually emerging as a global superstar, a baby boy was born in Esplugues de Llobregat (Spain). The child was named Lamine Yamal, the son of an immigrant mother from Equatorial Guinea.
At the time when CR7 gradually became a new icon of Portuguese football, in the poor neighborhood of Rocafonda, where Yamal grew up among children wearing fake Messi shirts, no one expected a great talent to be quietly blossoming. The young Yamal at that time never wore a Barca shirt, even though it was available, and only quietly played football on small fields on street corners.
By the time Yamal was born, Ronaldo had been playing for Portugal for nearly four years. In 2003, he was given his debut by coach Scolari against Kazakhstan at the age of 18. At that time, Ronaldo was just a young man from Madeira.
One of those who witnessed that start, Portuguese youth football legend Luis Jose Pinguinha, recalled: "Ronaldo was only 11 years old that year, the brightest star of the tournament. But when he received the title of Best Player of the Match, the Sporting coaching staff asked me not to give him the award because his family was too poor. They were afraid that his family could not afford to take their son to Algarve to receive the award. I knew it was unfair, but I still agreed. Ronaldo was so excellent, he single-handedly passed 4 people and scored a goal, but he could not receive the award because he was too poor."
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The long-awaited confrontation between two generations. |
Now, 17 years later, Yamal is also embarking on his fateful journey, just like Ronaldo did. Wearing the number 19 shirt of Spain, Yamal exploded at Euro 2024. A beautiful curling strike against France in the semi-finals, along with 4 assists throughout the tournament, turned this young talent into a new idol for millions of young fans.
Adidas, the sponsor of the Spanish national team, is still amazed by the sales of Yamal shirts. At the national team's open training sessions, hundreds of kids wore Yamal shirts, regardless of whether they were Real or Barca fans. For them, Lamine was a crazy thing.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo scored 137 goals for Portugal and is continuing to search for a third title with the team in the Nations League, after the Euro championships in 2016 and the Nations League in 2019. At the age of 40, CR7 still takes the field with incredible physical condition and determination to never back down.
Yamal, who turned 17 the day before the Euro final, made history as the tournament's youngest winner and is one of the biggest phenomena in world football today.
The match at the Allianz Arena will be the first time that two stars from two generations will face each other directly. It was there that Ronaldo played in the 2006 World Cup semi-final against Zidane and France. Yamal defeated Mbappe's France in this very place. One has lost, the other has just won.
Early tomorrow morning (June 9), these two football universes will meet for the first time, not only a confrontation between a legend and a phenomenon, but also a continuation of two magical stories from the poor streets to the pinnacle of world football.
Source: https://znews.vn/ronaldo-yamal-tran-dau-cua-hai-thoi-dai-post1559093.html
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