Lamine Yamal says France should fear Spain as the two nations gear up for a heavyweight World Cup semifinal in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.
Mikel Merino struck in the 88th minute as Spain beat Belgium 2-1 on Friday to set up a showdown with France, who beat Morocco 2-0 on Thursday.
It will be third meeting between the two countries in the last three years, with Spain emerging victorious when they met in the semifinals of the European Championships in 2024 and again the UEFA Nations League in 2025.
“If France should fear anyone, it’s us,” Yamal told reporters after Spain’s win over Belgium at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
“We have knocked them out [before]. We have beat them two times. Honestly, I think we’re the two best teams at the World Cup, so we’ll see what happens, but we do not have any fear.”
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It will be Spain’s second-ever World Cup semifinal and first since they won the title in 2010. France are looking to reach a third consecutive World Cup final after winning in 2018 and finishing as runners-up to Argentina in Qatar four years ago.
“The expectations are very, very high for the next game,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “We’re concentrated on this next game and very well aware of the potential of our opponent at the next game. But also we are very clear that we are able to beat France.
“We have the quality and it’s a semifinal again. We’ve had a semifinal against them. We were successful. The game will be very demanding. It’ll be energetic. We’ll need to have the best version of ourselves.”
Like France, Spain were ranked among the pre-tournament favorites in North America, but they have struggled to hit top gear despite progressing to the last four.
Their campaign opened with a goalless draw against Cape Verde, before victories against Saudi Arabia and Uruguay took them into the knockout rounds.
They eased past Austria but required late winners — on both occasions from Arsenal‘s Merino — to see off Portugal and Belgium.
Yamal, who recovered from a hamstring injury to make the finals, says the way in which teams sit back against Spain makes it difficult for him and the team to really shine.
“It may seem as if we’re not playing great, but every team we play sits back against us,” Yamal added.
“No one has gone toe-to-toe with us, but in the end we got the win again today. That is the most important thing.
“We are really happy to be in the semifinal. We’ve been here for a long time now and we want to stay until the final.”
The Barcelona winger, who turns 19 on Monday, has scored one goal in six appearances at the finals so far.
