IF Spain’s Nico Williams wins the Euros tomorrow, he will dedicate it to his dad who used to man the turnstiles at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge.
The Athletic Bilbao winger — one of breakout stars of the tournament — says he owes his success to his parents Felix and Maria who arrived in Spain as refugees in 1994.
His parents made the journey from Accra in Ghana to the Basque Country when she was pregnant with his older brother — and now Athletic team-mate — Inaki.
The family settled in Pamplona, with Nico born there in July 2002.
Much of his childhood was spent with his dad away trying to earn money for the family.
When work as a labourer, cleaner and even as a shepherd ran out, Felix went to London to look for a job — leaving three-year-old Nico at home with his mum and brother.
In 2021, Inaki told me: “My dad worked in a shopping centre near Chelsea clearing tables in the food halls or as a security guard, and he got a job tearing tickets at Stamford Bridge.”
Felix was away for a decade, so Nico, who turned 22 yesterday, grew up with big brother as his biggest influence and paternal guide.
The Spain winger told Spanish radio Cope this week: “I’m young and make a lot of mistakes and Inaki is always on top of me giving me advice about football and life.”
Inspired by Spain winning the World Cup in 2010 when he was only eight, Nico would try to emulate his heroes kicking a ball against a wall in the Rochapea neighbourhood.
Playing out on the street together Nico soon showed signs of an even greater talent than his brother.
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Although Inaki — who represents Ghana — recently revealed that on rainy days indoors on the PlayStation there was only one winner.
He told Madrid-based sports website Relevo: “I had to unplug him he was so bad. He could barely hold the controls properly.”
Nico has improved considerably since then and admitted to spending six hours a day on EA Sports’ FC 24 during the tournament.
Local club Osasuna wanted to sign the young Nico but in 2012 Athletic Bilbao swooped for his sibling and a year later they took him too.
It meant being at the same club as Inaki who guided him through the youth ranks all the way to the first team.
Villarreal coach Marcelino, who gave Nico his debut at Bilbao in 2021, said: “Inaki is like a father to Nico because he had to go through all the same things before his brother.
“Nico couldn’t have a better role model.”
That guidance has also helped him deal with the scourge of racist abuse when it has come his way in Spain.
He was racially abused at Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium last season but there is renewed hope the problem is now being tackled.
Three people were sentenced to eight months in prison and given two-year stadium bans for racially abusing Vinicius Jr during Real Madrid’s game at Valencia in May 2023.
It was the first time a conviction has been made for racist abuse at a football stadium in the whole of Spain.
Nico said this week: “There will be a before and after. When they insult you and get away with it then it encourages more people to do it.
“Now people have seen that the law will take it seriously and act on it.
“In the end, you have to reason with people and make them get to know you. Maybe they don’t know the African culture.
“I think we have to teach them, let them discover the world, and that will change many mentalities.”
Williams’ performances for Spain have put the whole of Europe on alert for a player whose release clause is just £49m.
He has told his agent he does not want to hear a word about his future until the tournament ends tomorrow.
Williams is expected to stay one more season so he can fulfil a dream of representing Athletic in next season’s Europa League.
It is going to be hard to wrench him away from the Basque region where his parents settled 22 years ago.
They will be at the final against England. Brother Inaki, 30, will be there too.
He was married at the start of June and Nico was granted permission from his Spain coach Luis de la Fuente to leave Euro 2024 preparations to make the ceremony.
Now it is Inaki requesting to cut short his honeymoon with wife Patricia to watch his brother play the biggest game of his life.
LAMINE YAMAL has confirmed his status as football’s next superstar at Euro 2024 – but has only been playing 11-a-side games for four years, write Jack Rosser.
Spain’s incredible 16-year-old bent home the goal of the tournament so far against France as La Roja sealed the spot in the final.
But his first five years in Barcelona’s academy were spent playing seven-a-side football, up until the age of 12 in 2020 when he finally got a crack at 11-a-side games.
Yamal’s story is baffling, brilliant and barely believable in equal measure.
He is a boy born to a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, who turns 17 tomorrow and was cradled by footballing royalty at just six months old.
Staggering pictures of Yamal as a baby being held and bathed by Messi, taken for a Barcelona charity calendar 16 years ago, resurfaced this week.
He did not restrict his brushes with greatness to Barcelona either, with footage of Yamal as an academy player walking as a mascot with Spain and Real Madrid icon Sergio Ramos at an El Clasico in 2016.
There is a touch of fate about this gem, Spain’s “little MVP”, as team-mate Nico Williams has dubbed him.
Yamal has been doing homework in his spare time and received exam results during the tournament. He passed, obviously.
Now he’s the youngest ever goalscorer at the Euros, also becoming the youngest player to ever start a major semi-final – claiming that title from Pele.
But it’s Yamal’s humble approach on and off the pitch that most impresses everyone he meets.
And France star Adrien Rabiot probably felt quite embarrassed as he boarded his plane back home from Germany.
He had tried to intimidate Yamal ahead of their semi-final clash – telling Yamal he “needs to do more.”
Was this good enough, then? Yamal responded with a goal for the ages and a man of the match performance.
A season which started with a pre-season game against Tottenham where Yamal excelled but was overshadowed by Oliver Skipp scoring a brace will end on the biggest stage European football has to offer on Sunday.
From being outshone by Skipp to eclipsing Pele’s records is not a bad year’s work – just imagine what he will do when he grows up.
Read all about the incredible rise of Lamine Yamal in full…
