Winger ruled out of Sunday’s clash against Valencia
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has accused Spain of not taking proper care of Lamine Yamal after the teenager was given an enormous workload and then returned from international duty with a groin injury.
Yamal played in both of Spain’s World Cup qualifying wins against Bulgaria and Turkey despite carrying groin pain before the fixtures. He lasted 79 minutes in the first match and 73 in the second, performances that came after being given painkillers and without taking part in full training sessions.
“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,” said Flick.
“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.
“Spain have the best team in the world, in every position they are unbelievably good. Maybe when we talk about taking care of young players, it’s things like that. I am really sad about this.”
The forward has been one of Barcelona’s standout players in the opening weeks of the season, scoring twice and providing two assists for the club before setting up three more goals for Spain during the break.
Flick said there would have to be better communication with the national teams in future to prevent such incidents.
“I never spoke with the manager [Luis de la Fuente],” said Flick. “We had one chat by texting. My Spanish is not great, his English is not good, maybe it is a problem.
“But I think communication has to be good, because we have more than one player in there, and it could be better.
“I was also with the national team side. I know sometimes how hard this job is. But in the end communications with the club were always good.”
