Young football players set to star in Sundays Euros final attest to the country’s 21st century multicultural ‘reality’, says manager

In a speech in Catalonia last Wednesday, King Felipe lauded a generation of young Spaniards for their “enthusiasm, tremendous drive and huge ability”.

Although he was pleased to count his two daughters among that generation, the monarch couldn’t resist mentioning another famous member of the cohort, a Catalan teenager whose skill, commitment and achievements have, over the past four weeks, made him the most famous Spanish adolescent on the planet.