It’s of no interest to me, says De la Fuente; Yamal has since confirmed his return from injury
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente has played down Hansi Flick’s complaints about the handling of Lamine Yamal during the recent international break.
Yamal picked up a groin injury while on international duty with Spain, where he played for La Roja in the World Cup qualifying matches against Bulgaria and Turkey.
He returned to Barcelona injured and has since missed matches against Valencia, Newcastle United, Getafe and Real Oviedo.
Flick, Barcelona’s coach, criticised Spain for fielding the teenager for too long and unnecessarily despite him carrying an issue, saying they were not “taking care of players” and he was “really sad” about it.
“It’s a pity because he goes to the national team with some pain, trained nothing with the national team, and took painkillers to play,” Flick said.
“They scored over three goals in every match. After the Bulgaria game, in between matches, he did not train again. This is not taking care of players.”
However, Spain’s coach dismissed the criticism when he was asked about it this week.
“Right now I don’t remember what Flick said,” De la Fuente told reporters. “Neither is it of any interest to me.”
Yamal’s absence was largely filled by Marcus Rashford playing on the left while Raphinha was moved to the right. Barcelona have won all games in his absence by a margin of 14-2.
The 18-year-old has since confirmed his return from injury. On Friday he posted his highlight reel on social media, along with a comment that said: “Hey! I’m back”.
The winger could be available for Sunday’s La Liga match against Real Sociedad, although the club could decide to delay this until the midweek fixture against Paris Saint-Germain to give him more room for full recovery, having been hit by so many injuries in recent weeks.
