Alarms bells rang at FC Barcelona a few days ago when Lamine Yamal was seen leaving the pitch with a limp after playing almost another full game with the Spanish national team and being on the receiving end of some very harsh tackles in the game against Denmark.
After the match, Lamine Yamal left the national team camp and returned to Barcelona because of his discomfort. Fortunately, he was able to train normally in the training session on Thursday, and his participation in the match against Sevilla is not in danger, even though Flick may decide not to risk him ahead of two very difficult games against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
Although he looks fine, his situation still led to a lot of concern at Barcelona, and most of the fingers were pointed at the Spanish national team coach, Luis de la Fuente. However, as SPORT has reported, Deco absolved the national team trainer of such responsibility as he appeared in an interview with RAC1.
The Barcelona Sporting Director blamed the high number of matches for such issues:
“The problem isn’t with De la Fuente. He’s doing his job, he’s the national team coach, and he tries to call up the best players. Something needs to be done about the calendar. All national team matches are official now, which wasn’t the case before. It’s clear that young players are subjected to too many games. Too many.”
“This includes Gavi and Pedri, but not just our players. It feels like every match is do-or-die. We have to take care of Lamine, he’s still in the process of developing, but if we single him out, we’ll be unfair to the others.”
The former Portuguese player was not too keen on making comparisons between Yamal and Messi:
“There will always be comparisons because football is about passion and idolization, and we can’t ask people to think otherwise. Lamine is writing his own story.”
“Leo, Johan, Iniesta, or Ronaldinho had their moments. Lamine has everything it takes to become a reference for this club, and it’s wonderful to have him here, to take care of him and appreciate him.”
“He [Yamal] hasn’t had the fortune of growing up in a team that was winning like Messi did… he’s part of a renewal process.”
There is no doubt that Yamal will be key for Barcelona, not only in the upcoming stretch of difficult matches but also for the rest of the season.
At only 17 years of age, he is playing a lot of minutes, and this needs to be carefully regulated by both the club and the national teams to ensure he continues to play at his optimal level.
