Lamine Yamal explains brutal Adrien Rabiot message after Spain beat France
- Lamine Yamal scored a brilliant long-range goal in Spain's Euro 2024 semi-final victory over France
- Adrien Rabiot had previously claimed Barcelona youngster had plenty to prove
- 16-year-old shouted 'speak now!' at full-time
Lamine Yamal explained his shouts of 'speak now!' after his stunning goal in the Euro 2024 semi-final on Tuesday night silenced Adrien Rabiot and helped Spain eliminate France.
After Randal Kolo Muani headed in the opener from Kylian Mbappe's cross, the Barcelona wonderkid curled in a devastating equaliser from distance to bring La Roja level before Dani Olmo struck what turned out to be the winner.
France midfielder Rabiot spoke about Yamal in the build-up to the final-four clash, insisting the 16-year-old would need to play better than he has so far to help Spain reach the final.
"We've seen that he's a player who can handle the pressure," Rabiot said before the game.
"He has a lot of quality. However, it's always difficult to handle a semi-final in a tournament like this. It's down to us to put the pressure on him, to not let him be comfortable and to show him that in order to play the final of a Euro, he'll need to show much more than he has until now."
In a rather hilarious twist of fate, Rabiot was arguably the worst player on the pitch at the Allianz Arena while Yamal delivered a player of the match performance. The teenager, who was seen shouting 'speak now!' at full-time, has now elaborated on who his words were directed at.
He told reporters: "My celebration? It was for the person who knows it is for him.
"I am very happy for the victory and for helping the team, which is in the final. In the end we should not give importance to any of that. I have helped to the team."
Spain now await the winner of the second semi-final between England and the Netherlands on Wednesday night and will be favourites in Sunday's final, having impressed the most of any nation with their performances at Euro 2024 so far.
Yamal added: "I am very happy for the victory and for helping the team, which is in the final. In the end we should not give importance to any of that. I have helped to the team.
"We were in a difficult moment because nobody expected his goal. I took it, I didn't think and I tried to put it in where it went in and that was it. I'm very happy."
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