Lamine Yamal’s absence from training on the eve of Barcelona’s Spanish Super Cup semifinal against Athletic Club “raised eyebrows”, reports in Spain state, but has been put down to nothing more serious than a stomach virus.
The teenage superstar has faced a battle with injuries for the first time in his embryonic senior career. Yamal found himself at the center of a controversy between Barcelona and the Spain national team in the autumn, with Luis de la Fuente inciting the ire of Hansi Flick when his star winger was deployed against Bulgaria and Türkiye after receiving painkilling injections in his groin.
That pesky injury, known as pubalgia, has forced Yamal to miss five Barcelona matches and Spain’s last two international camps. The 18-year-old has been fit enough to feature in 715 of the last 720 minutes Barça have played, although doubts over an extension of that run were brought up this week.
Yamal missed the club’s first training session of new calendar year before returning to the fold for Saturday’s Catalan derby against Espanyol. However, the No. 10 was again absent on Tuesday, one day before Barcelona take on Athletic Club in the first Spanish Super Cup semifinal in Saudi Arabia.
Rather than a recurrence of his groin problems, Yamal has been suffering from a stomach virus, according to Mundo Deportivo. The widely held expectation is that the fleet-footed scamp will be available for selection against Athletic, despite being “weakened” by this illness.
While not quite reaching the same heights of last season and the sense of mischievous lightness in his game appearing to fade in recent months, Yamal remains a potent attacking force for the Catalans.
He leads the team for assists, shots, passes into the penalty area and has completed more successful dribbles than anyone else in Europe’s top five leagues. Flick will be eager to have Yamal at his best heading into this mini-tournament.
Hansi Flick Fires Barcelona Warning Ahead of Trophy Push
Even with Yamal in tow, Barcelona have not always been entirely convincing as of late. Flick’s side had to rely upon a sensational individual display from their goalkeeper Joan García to secure a victory over Espanyol on the weekend. As the German boss pointed out, they were not at their best throughout a win over Villarreal before the Christmas break either.
“If we play like we did on Saturday against Espanyol, or like we did in Villarreal, it won’t be easy to win,” Flick sternly warned ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Athletic.
The 2025 Spanish Super Cup triumph was the first of three domestic trophies which Barcelona won last year. “The Super Cup is the shortest path to a title, and last year it gave us a lot of energy,” Flick mused. “We want to repeat that success this year, but we’re up against the best teams in Spain, and it won’t be easy.”
Barcelona have gone more than seven hours of on-pitch action with conceding a goal, yet Flick is unimpressed with the number of chances his side have given up. “We have to improve defensively and be more connected as a team,” he moaned. “We have our playing style, we know our strengths, but we have to do some things better than in the last two matches.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Raised Eyebrows’—Barcelona Rule on Lamine Yamal Injury Scare.
