Spain star Yamal's hometown buzzing over teen's Euro success
12th July 2024
Yamal scored the goal that helped Spain to a 2-1 win over France in the semis.

- Spain will face England in the final on Sunday 14 July.
- Despite his youth, Yamal has long been venerated in his childhood home.
- Everyone wants to be like him in this neighbourhood which is thrown into the limelight every time the young star player signs its 304 postcode.
Every time Lamine Yamal scores, he holds up his fingers to
sign the numbers 304 - the postcode of Rocafonda, the modest Catalan district
where he grew up, which is bursting with pride over the 16-year-old's success
in Euro 2024.
It's not yet midday but there is a real buzz inside the
local bar, El Cordobes, which is still reeling with excitement after Yamal, who
used to come in with his dad, clutching a football, shot home the sublime goal
against France that helped propel Spain to Sunday's Euro 2024 final.
For years, people here to the north of Barcelona knew he was
different but nobody could have predicted the lad would go on to become the
youngest player to score in a European Championship.
"We knew he was going to play with Barcelona's first team," bar owner Juan Carlos Serrano says with a proud smile. "But we had no idea he would have the kind of impact he's having now."
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On the wall behind him is a framed Barcelona shirt signed by
Yamal that his father gave Serrano as thanks for his support during the years
when the pair used to go to the bar before taking the train into the city for
him to train with the club's youth team - until he signed with their famed La
Masia youth academy.
That was the last day Yamal came into the bar, but not the
last time he came back to this district of Mataro, a city of 130,000 people
that lies 30 kilometres (18 miles) up the coast from Barcelona where he spent
some of his childhood and where many locals proudly show off photos with him.
After his parents separated, Yamal lived between the nearby
town of Granollers and Mataro, but his constant visits to his grandmother, who
arrived from Morocco decades ago and still lives in Rocafonda, has kept up his
ties to the neighbourhood where his father is greeted as a local hero.
Just back from Germany, where he watched Spain's semi-final
victory over France semi-final match, his neighbours are crowding around to
congratulate him over his son's stunning goal, which he still gets excited
about.
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"I lived every moment in that stadium just like any
other Spanish fan, going crazy," says Mounir Nasraoui exuberantly standing
in the doorway of the bar.
And he will soon be going back, with more to celebrate: his
son turns 17 on Saturday and on Sunday, he's hoping for victory in the final
against England.
"As a father, I am proud, happy and grateful," he said, thanking his neighbours for their support. "This neighbourhood is proud of being the place where Lamine Yamal comes from."
Several streets away, the blazing sun is not enough to stop
the kids from playing football on a local pitch where Yamal too spent hours
playing when he was small.
Everyone wants to be like him in this neighbourhood which is
thrown into the limelight every time the young star player signs its 304
postcode.
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"People get really excited about Lamine Yamal because
nothing like this has ever happened here before," explains Mamadou Sow,
32, who works in catering.
"That gives the kids even more desire to do sports and
other things," he told AFP, saying he was overjoyed to
"finally" see the neighbourhood, which has come in for some negative
press in recent years, being mentioned on TV for positive reasons.
"It's exciting."
Life has not been simple in this district on the outskirts
of Mataro whose postcode is 08304 and which has a large immigrant population
and a lower income than other more affluent neighbourhoods.
"We've always had a bad reputation for crime and other
things, and to have someone so important shedding a different light on the
neighbourhood is really positive," said Rocio Escandell, head of the
Rocafonda residents' association.
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Despite his youth, Yamal has long been venerated in his
childhood home.
Outside the bakery that his uncle used to run by the local
football pitch is a large painted image of him wearing a Barca shirt, his arms
crossed and fingers signing the number 304.
Jauad Darraz, the new owner, is carrying out renovations so
he can open a new bar.
But there are some things he does not intend to change.
"We're changing everything except the picture," he
grins, referring to the painting.
"I like it because Lamine Yamal is from the neighbourhood... We have a star here!."
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