Lamine Yamal, starter and happy: his impact on the Spanish team

Happiness is always the headline. It is not a sporting criterion, but it is a good criterion. Lamine Yamal lives in that state, noticeable not only for his goals, one more against the Czech Republic, but for his spur in a control as well as for his body language. He likes it and he likes it, with butterflies in his stomach for the Ballon d'Or. On a day of opportunities against the weakest rival, despite the squeeze at the end, something that is difficult to explain is what best explains why the Barça player repeated his start, the only one in the three games of this Nations League.

The answer was a goal between the favorites in their repertoire. Slalom on the balcony of the area and parabola to the net. Messianic. That's how he broke out in a big way in the national team, against France in the Euro Cup, although that shot was better because of the difficulty, the execution, the rival and the meaning.

The last of these four games, on Tuesday in Croatia, will surely find Lamine in the eleven again, on the bench after the break against the Czechs. It is a match of greater commitment than the one played in Oviedo, in a group where Spain holds the lead with a full victory, but the England of Bellingham, Gordon and Kane are going to fight until the end, despite losing at Wembley against La Roja, as they showed by making Modric's team a seven.