Four years on from playing at school, Lamine Yamal chases stardom at World Cup

Speaking to RFEF, he said: "Finally, the moment has come. I think ever since the Euros ended, we were all thinking about this day and we're all really excited. We're coming in as the team we are, as European champions, and we're going all out."

Lamine Yamal has been out since April with an injury suffered at Barcelona, and there were nerves he would not be fit in time for the World Cup.

His selection in Luis de la Fuente's squad allayed any of those fears, but that didn't stop him from having the tournament on his mind as soon as his hamstring went.

He added: "I remember the sequence when I got injured. I was praying inside that it was nothing, that it was just a cramp or something minor, because I felt the World Cup was so close and I knew it was a hamstring injury, which I'd never had before, but I knew it wouldn't be a short recovery. So I was afraid it would be serious, and above all, that even if it wasn't serious, I could relapse and miss the World Cup.

"It's also true that it helps knowing you're going to play in a World Cup, so your mind feels as if you haven't played a single match all season, and I'm really eager to make my debut."

The 18-year-old burst onto the scene at EURO 2024, helping Spain lift their first major trophy since 2012, when Lamine Yamal was just four years old. That spotlight has only grown brighter after his consistent performances with Barcelona, meaning he has had to grow up fast.

He explained: "In my mind, it feels like I've been playing football for 10 years, but in reality it's been three years, and four years ago I was playing with them at the local sports centre. So, a kid who was playing with you three years ago is now going to play in a World Cup. It has to be something crazy, really crazy."

In his short but stunning career, he has already won major trophies with club and country, but the World Cup is something every child dreams of, and Lamine Yamal is no different.

Asked if he has thought about lifting the Jules Rimet trophy, he responded: "A thousand times, in my room or when we won a match at the sports centre in my neighbourhood, because I think the World Cup is the biggest thing in football."

Because of his rapid rise to stardom, Lamine Yamal has certainly created a huge following, something he only knows too well having idolised Neymar as a youngster, and someone he could come up against at this World Cup.

Asked about his fans, he said: "They're the ones I empathise with the most. In the end, when I see a little kid, I know that in his mind he's seeing his idol and he doesn't understand...

"It's not that I'm having a bad day, I think in that moment you really have to stop and take a photo because when I was little, my idol was Neymar and I would have done anything for a photo with Neymar when I was a kid, anything at all.

"If you told me to go to Russia by train, I would have gone to Russia by train for a photo with him. So yes, I really empathise with them because I know they're just thinking they're in front of their idol and they want to be like him and want a photo with him."

Spain will face Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H, with La Roja expected to get out of it with ease. Attention will then turn to bigger and better opponents if Spain are to repeat their 2010 success.

"In the end, we play against very good teams. If we play against France, I might be very important but if the team isn't doing well, we have nothing to do. So I go in with that excitement because I know we have a great team, one of the best we've ever had, and we have very important players.

"Starting with Rodri, who's a Ballon d'Or winner. (Mikel) Oyarzabal, who, for me, is top, among the best strikers at the World Cup, I think he's fantastic. And he's confident too. We have Pedri. I love watching him play. Position by position, starting with (Marc) Cucurella, who was at the Euros, he looks like a different player. We have a squad full of great players and in goal we have the three best."