YAMAL & BARCELONA Landing at El Prat Airport, you enter a city that lives in the rhythm of its new hero. The story of Lamine Yamal doesn’t begin on the city’s luxurious boulevards, but in the municipality of Espluges de Llobregat, where he was born, before continuing in the working-class neigh- bourhood of Rocafonda in the nearby coastal city of Mataró. This is the place with the postcode of 304, which was made famous when Yamal turned it in- to a global phenomenon with his hand gestures during every scoring celebra- tion. His father Mounir (from Moroc- co) and mother Sheila (from Equatori- al Guinea) both worked several jobs just to enable Lamine to be able to train. He was noticed by scouts at the age of just seven and taken to La Masia, the re- nowned youth academy of FC Barcelo- na. This factory of footballers is located
in the immediate vicinity of the club facilities. Walking in this part of the city, you will casually enter a zone where architecture and sport merge. Passing Park Güell or other masterpiec- es by Antoni Gaudí, such as the Sagrada Familia, serves to remind us that Barcelo- na has always sought aes- thetics in everything – in- cluding play. As the first star of FC Barcelona’s new genera- tion, Yamal currently plays at the club’s temporary home, the Lluís Compa- nys Olympic Stadium, lo- cated on the green hill of Montjuic, which provides one of the most beautiful
Kada sletite na aerodrom „El Prat“, ulazite u grad koji živi u ritmu svog no- vog heroja. Priča o Laminu Jamalu ne počinje na raskošnim bulevarima, već u mestu Espluges de Ljobregat gde je ro- đen, a zatim se nastavlja u radničkom kvartu Rokafonda, u bliskom Matarou. To je mesto čiji je poštanski kod, čuveni broj 304, Jamal pretvorio u globalni fe- nomen, pokazujući ga prstima pri svakoj proslavi gola. Njegov otac Munir (iz Ma- roka) i majka Šila (iz Ekvatorijalne Gvi- neje) radili su po nekoliko poslova ka- ko bi Laminu omogućili da trenira. Kad mu je bilo samo sedam godina, primetili su ga skauti i odveli u La Masiju, čuvenu akademiju FK Barselona. Ova fudbalska fabrika nalazi se u neposrednoj blizi- ni klupskih objekata, a dok se šetate tim delom grada, lagano ulazite u zonu gde se spajaju arhitektura i sport. Prolazak pored Parka Guelj ili drugih remek-dela Antonija Gaudija poput Sagrade familije podseća na to da je Barselona uvek traži- la estetiku u svemu – pa i u igri. Kao prva zvezda nove generacije FK Barselona, Jamal danas nastupa u pri- vremenom domu kluba, na Olimpij- skom stadionu „Ljui Kompanis“, smešte- JAMAL I BARSELONA
nom na zelenom brdu Monžuik, odakle se pruža jedan od najlepših pogleda na grad. U isto vreme istorijski dom Barse- lone, mitski „Kamp Nou“, prolazi kroz veliku rekonstrukciju i čeka otvaranje sa novim natkrivenim krovom i kapacite- tom od 105.000 mesta. Ipak, moderan klupski muzej u okviru kompleksa pruža fantastičan uvid u mesto gde je Jamal od dečaka postao najmlađi strelac u istoriji kluba i reprezentacije.
views of the city. In the meantime, FC Barcelona’s historic home ground, the mythical Camp Nou, is undergoing ma- jor reconstruction work and will reopen with a new covered roof and a capacity of 105,000 seats. However, the modern club museum located within the complex provides fantastic insight into the place where Yamal became the youngest ever scorer in the history of both the club and the national team.
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