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Henry asks Yamal 'is this the one you wanted?' as he wins third Kopa
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📰 Third-placed Yamal got a cheeky question from Thierry Henry as he collected the Kopa Trophy, then handed the credit to teammate Pau Cubarsi.
📌 Key points
🎤 Henry asked three-time Kopa winner Yamal if it was the award he really wanted.
😅 The room laughed and Yamal lowered his head with a smile.
⚖️ Fans were split between 'disrespectful' and 'great joke'.
🤝 Yamal said the award should have gone to Cubarsi.
🌟 Yamal is the first player to win the Kopa Trophy three times.
📝 What happened
🎤 At the ceremony at the London Palladium on Monday 26 October, co-host Henry put a question to Yamal as he came up for the Kopa Trophy, the award for the best under-21 player. According to LiveScore, Henry said: 'It's your third award, isn't it? But is it the award you really wanted to win?' Earlier that night Yamal had finished third in the Ballon d'Or vote behind Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe.
😅 The audience laughed and the 19-year-old did not answer, lowering his head with a smile. Gulf News said the moment was widely read as a playful dig about the Ballon d'Or that Yamal had hoped to win.
⚖️ Reaction online was split. Some called it 'totally unacceptable' and accused Henry of picking on a 19-year-old, while others called it 'elite-level trolling' and said everyone in the room knew exactly which trophy he meant. Henry was also criticised for interrupting his co-host's pronunciation of the Socrates Award, saying 'We don't have any philosophers here.'
🤝 In his speech Yamal said he would have liked his teammate Cubarsi to be there, adding that the prize should have been for him and that he deserved it. According to Gulf News, the 19-year-old centre-back played every minute of Spain's World Cup win and became the first defender to win the tournament's young player award.
📊 By the numbers
• Yamal's Kopa Trophies: three in a row (2024, 2025, 2026), a first
• Yamal's 2026 Ballon d'Or finish: 3rd
• Spain at the World Cup: 1 goal conceded in 8 games, 7 clean sheets, Cubarsi playing every minute
🔭 Why it matters
Henry's line touched a nerve for a player who just missed out on the Ballon d'Or, but Yamal laughed it off and turned the spotlight on a teammate. Neither Gulf News nor LiveScore reported any further response from Henry or Yamal. With his Kopa years running out, the Ballon d'Or itself is now Yamal's remaining target.
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