FC Barcelona fears that its star winger Lamine Yamal might be injured again in the build-up to a … [+] mammoth title race clash with Atletico Madrid at the weekend according to SPORT, which cited anonymous sources.
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FC Barcelona fears that its star winger Lamine Yamal might be injured again in the build-up to a mammoth title race clash with Atletico Madrid at the weekend according to SPORTwhich cited anonymous sources.
The winner of the Kopa Trophy and Golden Boy award was recently sidelined thanks to a “grade 1 high right ankle sprain” as confirmed by the club in early November.
In an uncommon practice, Barca provided an expected recovery timeframe which was “two to three weeks”.
Lamine ended up being absent for 22 days in total and missed three games. Two of those were the 1-0 loss to Real Sociedad and a 2-2 stalemate at Celta Vigo where Barca threw away a two-goal lead.
This development forced head coach Hansi Flick to field questions about a Lionel Messi-esque dependence on his 17-year-old.
“It’s normal to miss a player like Lamine. He has great quality, that’s clear. It would be easy to make excuses, but we’re not going to do that. We simply didn’t make the best choices,” Flick said in a post-match interview.
Lamine has been available for the last few matches, though, and appeared to be back to his best in a 5-1 win over Mallorca and a 3-2 victory at Borussia Dortmund’s expense either side of another 2-2 stalemate away to Real Betis.
On Sunday, however, Lamine had a rare off night against Leganes, who beat Barca 1-0 in Montjuic and sentenced the Catalans to a second consecutive home defeat.
As explained by SPORTthere are fears within the club that the same right ankle which suffered a niggle against Red Star Belgrade was again affected in the opening minutes of the Leganes loss.
Medical tests will be carried out on Monday to determine whether the Euro 2024 champions is again injured, in what would be a hammer blow to Barca’s plans against Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
With Barca in a domestic rut and level on points with Diego Simeone’s team that is arguably Spain’s best at the moment, losing Lamine wouldn’t bode well for preventing a third home hiccup on the trot before Culers that are becoming increasingly angry with Flick and his underperforming charges.
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