{"id":50027,"date":"2026-07-04T00:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/50027\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T00:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:37:12","slug":"lamine-yamal-spain-vs-austria-i-was-just-missing-a-goal-or-an-assist-motm-yamal-after-spains-win-over-austria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/50027\/","title":{"rendered":"Lamine Yamal Spain Vs Austria | ‘I was just missing a goal or an assist’: MOTM Yamal after Spain’s win over Austria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain star Lamine Yamal said Thursday he was delighted with his team’s performance in their 3-0 win in the World Cup last 32 against Austria<\/a> — but admitted he would have liked to score.<\/p>\n

“I was just missing a goal or an assist,” said the 18-year-old Barcelona sensation, who was named man of the match.<\/p>\n

“But as long as we win and advance to the next round, that’s what matters,” he told journalists in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Pressed by one reporter on why he seemed glum after a World Cup knockout win, Yamal insisted he was happy inside, even if he didn’t show it outwardly.<\/p>\n

“I really am happy. That match is over, and now we have to think about the next one,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’m very grateful for the affection shown to me in every stadium. It helps me step onto the pitch more motivated,” he added.<\/p>\n

Yamal, who will turn 19 on July 13, reiterated that his dream is to be a World Cup winner at the final in New Jersey on July 19.<\/p>\n

“There’s nothing better than the World Cup,” he said.<\/p>\n

“When a kid dreams about football, they dream of playing in the World Cup. I want to advance through the rounds and win with Spain.”<\/p>\n

He added: “We aren’t afraid of any team. We are Spain. We have to prove it on the pitch.”<\/p>\n

Yamal did briefly break into a smile when one journalist showed him a video of his three-year-old brother celebrating the victory in the Los Angeles stands.<\/p>\n

“It moves me to see my brother, my mother and my friends happy… My brother is like a son to me. I adore him,” he said<\/p>\n

The comfortable win Thursday was also a fourth straight clean sheet for Spain, who are yet to concede a goal at this World Cup.<\/p>\n

“Today we came close to perfection from the 20th minute until the end of the match,” said goalkeeper Unai Simon.<\/p>\n

“We have to keep maintaining that level to keep advancing through the stages,” he said.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he would prefer to face Portugal or Croatia in the round of 16 in Dallas on Monday, Simon declined to pick.<\/p>\n

“Whenever we’ve played against either Portugal or Spain, they’ve made things incredibly difficult for us — in general play, in pressing and in set pieces,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Both teams have players with spectacular set-piece delivery — I wouldn’t want to face either of them,” he admitted.<\/p>\n

Portugal and Croatia were meeting in the round of 32 later on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain star Lamine Yamal said Thursday he was delighted with his team’s performance in their 3-0 win in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[21909,5836,6522,21917,21918,21921,21922,21925,21923,21924,21926,21916,21919,21920,21912,21907,21904,21899,21910,21914,21900,21898,21902,21905,17,21906,21903,21911,21915,21901,21913,21908],"class_list":["post-50027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-barcelona-star-lamine-yamal-latest-news","tag-f","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-fixtures","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-groups","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-host-countries","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-latest-news","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-live-updates","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-match-results","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-points-table","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-predictions","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-schedule","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-standings","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026-teams","tag-lamine-yamal-dream-to-win-world-cup","tag-lamine-yamal-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-lamine-yamal-latest-interview","tag-lamine-yamal-man-of-the-match-world-cup","tag-lamine-yamal-motm-against-austria","tag-lamine-yamal-post-match-comments","tag-lamine-yamal-reaction-after-spain-win","tag-lamine-yamal-spain-vs-austria","tag-lamine-yamal-wanted-a-goal-or-assist","tag-lamine-yamal-world-cup-2026-performance","tag-spain","tag-spain-advances-to-world-cup-next-round","tag-spain-beat-austria-3-0","tag-spain-football-team-world-cup-2026","tag-spain-vs-austria-match-highlights","tag-spain-vs-austria-world-cup-2026-result","tag-spain-world-cup-2026-latest-updates","tag-spain-world-cup-knockout-stage-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}