Lamie Yamal became the youngest player in the history of the European Championship when he turned out for Spain in their opening group stage game at Euro 2024.
Standing opposite him was El Clásico rival Luka Modric of Real Madrid, making his 176th appearance for Croatia at 38 – a whopping age difference of 21 years and 307 days.
That difference is more than the age of two other players in the Spain starting line-up, Pedri and Fermin Lopez, both of whom are club team-mates of Yamal’s at Barcelona. In fact, when Modric burst into our consciousness by agreeing terms to join Tottenham Hotspur in April 2008, Yamal had not even been born.
Euro 2024: Previous Winners
Yamal was not quite five weeks old when Modric made his Premier League debut that August – and even by the time Modric joined Real Madrid in 2012, Yamal was not quite four years old.
An even bigger age gap could yet open up if Spain were to run up against Portugal later in the tournament, as an all-Iberian clash could see Yamal go up against 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo or even 41-year-old Pepe.
One of the more eye-catching ties of the opening weekend at Euro 2024 pitted two sides who have experienced both disappointingly early exits and encouraging progression in recent years.
2008 and 2012 European Championship winners Spain reached the semi-finals of Euro 2020, but went out in the round of 16 in both of the World Cups either side of that.
By contrast, perennial dark horses Croatia were World Cup runners-up in 2018 and reached the semi-finals in 2022, but had been eliminated at the first knockout stage in each of the past two editions of the Euros.
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