Online Reporter
LAMINE YAMAL has extended his ever-growing list of accolades after becoming the eighth youngest goalscorer ever at World Cup finals.
The Ballon d’Or runner-up scored Spain‘s first goal in their 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia their second Group Stage game.
Yamal had been on the bench for the opener against Cape Verde before coming on in the second half but was powerless to help Spain break the deadlock.
However, it took him just ten minutes to achieve that against the Middle East nation.
And at 18 years and 343 days old, it put him up to eighth place on the all-time list of World Cup goalscorers.
The goal moved him directly above Lionel Messi, who scored his first Argentina World Cup goal at the age of 18 years and 357 days old against Serbia on 16 June 2006.
But both are far behind England‘s own Michael Owen, who ranks fifth on the list with his goal for the Three Lions against Romania on June 22 1998, which he scored at 18 years and 190 days old.
Owen was fourth on the list prior to this tournament, but Senegal‘s Ibrahim Mbaye beat him at 18 years and 143 days old after scoring in the 3-1 defeat to France on June 16.
Yamal is also not even the record-holder within his own team, with Barcelona and Spain team-mate Gavi taking third in the all-time list after scoring against Costa Rica during the 2022 World Cup.
Second place in the overall list goes to Mexico’s Manuel Rosas, who scored for El Tri against Argentina at 18 years and 93 days old at the first ever World Cup in 1930.
But it is fitting that the record of youngest ever goalscorer at the World Cup goes to perhaps the most iconic player ever seen by the tournament, Pele.
The three-time World Cup winner got his Brazil career at the finals off to a flyer by scoring against Wales in 1958 at the age of 17 years and 293 days old. —Sun.
