Lamine Yamal has set a big goal for his first FIFA World Cup. The young Spain star wants to become the country’s youngest player to score a hat-trick at the tournament.
Yamal shared his thoughts in an interview with FIFA. The Barcelona winger will play his first World Cup in North America next year. He will also celebrate his 19th birthday during the tournament.
The idea came up while talking about Gavi’s World Cup record. Gavi became Spain’s youngest scorer at the World Cup after scoring against Costa Rica in 2022. He was 18 years and 110 days old at the time.
Yamal said Gavi often jokes with him about that record.
“Since the Euros, Gavi has been joking that this is the one record I cannot take from him. So I have to do something even better. I want to become the youngest Spanish player to score a hat-trick at the World Cup.”
He also spoke about what he would do if he gets close to reaching that mark.
“If I score a second goal, maybe I will give Gavi a little respect because he scored one, but my target will be three.”
Spain have seen only two players score hat tricks at the World Cup. Emilio Butragueño scored four goals against Denmark in the 1986 tournament. Míchel then scored all three goals against South Korea in the 1990 World Cup.
Neither of them did it before turning 25. Yamal is not only thinking about goals. He is also dreaming of winning the title with Spain.
“I hope Spain win the title. It would be a dream come true for me. The referee blows the final whistle and we win. I do not know by how many goals, but we become champions. Then we return to Spain and celebrate with the fans. That would be a special moment.”
Yamal is now recovering from injury and could miss Spain’s first match of the World Cup.
