Hansi Flick Shares Concerns Over Lamine Yamal’s Injury

Barcelona manager, Hansi Flick, says the club is waiting to find out more details about the ankle injury that forced Lamine Yamal to miss Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad.

The Catalan giants experienced only their second defeat of the La Liga season against La Real, enabling their fierce rivals Real Madrid to narrow the lead at the top of the table to six points following a decisive 4-0 victory over Osasuna.

Yamal, who recently received the Kopa Trophy at the 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony, had featured in all 12 of Barcelona’s La Liga matches before, scoring five goals and providing seven assists.

However, he was unable to participate in the game due to an ankle injury sustained during the midweek Champions League victory against Red Star Belgrade.

Speaking after the game, a concerned Flick admitted Barcelona had no choice but to leave Yamal out ahead of the international break, hinting that he hopes Spain’s medical staff will come to same the conclusion.

“The doctors will handle it; they will speak with the Federation’s medical team. I believe that if he didn’t play today, there weren’t any options,” Flick said. “We have to accept it, and the Federation will make the right decision.

“I have also been in the Federation’s position. You have to accept it; they will make the right decision, I’m sure, because Lamine is very important to them as well, of course.”

Pressed on a potential return date for Yamal, Flick was upfront in saying that he didn’t know. “I’m not sure,” he retorted. “I hope we can find out more about his condition today. But we don’t have anything clear. As soon as we know, we will let you know.”

The German acknowledged that Barcelona had not performed well against Real Sociedad, indicating that poor decision-making at critical moments was a key factor in the defeat.

“It was certainly not our day. We have to accept this result, I think they played with determination,” Flick mused.

“It is clear what we saw, and there are no excuses; we did not create enough chances. We started very well with the ball.

“I was happy, but then we began to suffer and their goal came. In the final third, we made bad decisions.”