The other Rocafonda star who triumphs on Barcelona's football fields

Barcelona"Not Lamine Yamal or anything, the star of Rocafonda is Adnane!", shouted a European fan in the ear of a friend from the cement stands of the Nuevo Cerdeña after Adnane Ghailan Benktib (Mataró, 2000) scored the 1-0 in the Euros. It turns out that the Villa de Gracia It is the only place in the world where its goals are celebrated as much as those of its neighbor. Lamine Yamal with Barça, and a week later the footballer himself made the La Barraqueta stadium explode with joy, where the escapulados supporters watched their team's match at the Algeciras field. That day, the humblest club in the First RFEF took the lead in the competition with a comeback of the era sealed in the 101st minute by the other genius from Rocafonda, author of a double.

"The subject of Lamine Yamal comes up often, yes. The fans usually make jokes... there are even some stickers English: mine with a Ballon d'Or. I take it with good humor," confesses Adnane with a laugh, who less than four years ago signed for the European reserve team from Vilassar B, thanks to the clinical eye of Josep Maria Gené, the scapulated architect. "At that time I didn't see myself making a living from football, I just wanted to have fun. But everything has happened very quickly: recently I was playing in the First Catalan League and now in the Spanish third division," says the footballer from Gràcia, who began playing at Rocafonda and who did practically all his youth football at Mataró, the main club in his city.

"He's very tall and thin, he doesn't look like a very skilled footballer on the ball, but he's quite the opposite. He's capable of making three or four and sending it into the top corner," says one of the fans who traveled to San Carlos de la Rápita in March 2023, the day Adnaist burst onto the scene with his first team, gifting two aces who often remind him of his killer. A couple of spells and a great goal against Sants, the most memorable of all his goals, was enough for him to push the Gracienas team to the Second Division RFEF and earn him a contract with the big boys. Now, in the bronze category, he's one of the indispensable players ofAday Benítez, a brave coach who gives him the freedom to show off his tricks on the Nou Sardenya pitch.

Neighborhood essence

From all the tailoring and tailoring he does for his opponents, he's known in the locker room as Europe's tailor: "Since I was little, I've had a knack for dribbling. It's the move that best defines me, and, thinking about it, I think I learned it when I played on the streets of Rocafonda." Adnane's football, then, has a strong sense of neighborhood spirit. This is also true of Lamine Yamal, who started kicking balls on the same streets as him. "I know both Lamine and his father because we were neighbors. In fact, although we're seven years apart, we'd played a few games together," reveals the Maresme native, who, like the FC Barcelona star, has roots in Morocco. In his case, in Tangier, where his parents left and where he has virtually no family left.

Adnane still lives in Rocafonda, and although he doesn't celebrate goals by drawing a 304 with his fingers – it's the postcode for the area – like the Barça footballer, he also proudly represents his origins: "Obviously, my size has nothing to do with Lamine Yamal's, but it makes me happy to see that the children of Rocafonda. Thanks to him, one of the most humble and multicultural neighborhoods in Mataró is part of Europe because everyone knows who he is.

"In Gràcia now they often stop me on the street, but in Rocafonda even more so. It's normal, there we all know each other," admits Adnane, who has led Europa to the top of the Primera RFEF table; they are in a position to be promoted to Segunda División. "The last few years of the club have been crazy. We're showing that football isn't all about the money. In the locker room, we're considering going up, but for now, there's no time to talk about that," concludes the ambitious tailor from Rocafonda, who is an idol in Vila de Gràcia.