His comeback to the starting lineup against Paris St. Germain was followed by more bad news. Lamine Yamal will once again be unavailable for FC Barcelona due to injury—and is also in danger of missing the Clasico in a few weeks.
Less than a week ago, Lamine Yamal celebrated a spectacular comeback for FC Barcelona. Due to pain in the pubic area, which the 18-year-old returned with from international matches with Spain in Bulgaria (3-0) and Turkey (6-0), he had to sit out several games in September. Last Sunday, Lamine Yamal made an impressive comeback with a lightning assist after coming on as a substitute in the narrow 2-1 La Liga win over Real Sociedad, leaving Hansi Flick in raptures. The coach promptly promoted his star player back into the Catalans’ starting lineup against Paris St. Germain on Wednesday for the first time since August. Lamine Yamal played the full 90 minutes against the French champions, but now he has suffered another setback. As Barcelona announced late Friday afternoon, the groin problems have resurfaced after the defeat against PSG (1-2), forcing Lamine Yamal to take another enforced break, which according to the club could last “two to three weeks.”
The European champion will definitely miss Sunday’s La Liga away game at Sevilla FC (4:15 p.m.) as well as the subsequent international break, in which Spain will face Georgia and Bulgaria again. It is also questionable whether Lamine Yamal will be fit again for the Clasico at Real Madrid on October 26.
De la Fuente: No conflict with Flick
Flick had already reacted angrily when the attacking player was first sidelined and blamed national team coach Luis de la Fuente for playing Lamine Yamal despite his pain. “That’s not showing consideration for the players,” said the Catalan coach, who also criticized his exchange with de la Fuente: “Maybe it’s just because my Spanish isn’t good and his English isn’t good. Communication could be better.”
De la Fuente emphasized on Friday that there was “no conflict with Flick. I was just surprised by these statements because he was a national coach himself and I thought he would have that empathy,” said the 64-year-old during the squad announcement: “We have two very important games—and we’re talking about Flick. We’re playing for the World Cup, that’s what really matters. The rest is not important. Everyone said what they said, and that’s that.”