Barcelona is hit with one more setback forward of their first residence sport of the La Liga season as Lamine Yamal has been dominated out of the conflict in opposition to Valencia. However the absence of the 18-year-old is just not the one headline — supervisor Hansi Flick used his pre-match press convention to ship a seven-word warning to the Spanish nationwide crew, voicing frustration about how the teenager was dealt with throughout the worldwide break.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Barcelona. Not solely are the Blaugrana internet hosting Valencia on the Estadi Johan Cruyff this weekend, however they’re simply days away from touring to England for his or her UEFA Champions League opener in opposition to Newcastle — a match the place each element issues.
Confirming the information to the media, Flick made it clear that his brightest attacking expertise can be nowhere close to the pitch: “Lamine is not going to be accessible — for me it’s a pity. He went to the nationwide crew with ache, he didn’t prepare, he bought painkillers for taking part in,” the German mentioned on Saturday.
Flick’s criticism shortly become a passionate rebuke of Spain’s administration of his participant, revealing that Yamal had been compelled to play important minutes regardless of his bodily points. “In each match they have been three targets (or extra) forward, he performed 79 and 73 minutes. Between the matches he didn’t prepare,” the German mentioned, earlier than delivering the seven-word message that can absolutely spark debate: “This isn’t taking good care of gamers.”
He added that whereas he respects Spain’s high quality, there have to be higher coordination to guard younger stars like Yamal: “Spain have finest crew on this planet, finest gamers on this planet. Possibly additionally after we wish to deal with gamers, younger gamers, it’s like that, doing this… I’m actually unhappy about this.”
Communication breakdown with De la Fuente
Flick admitted that he had not spoken straight with Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente, suggesting that poor communication might have worsened the scenario. “Possibly it’s all about my Spanish not being good, his English not good. Communication… there could possibly be higher,” Flick defined.
The Barcelona boss, who beforehand coached the German nationwide crew, additionally drew from his personal expertise: “I used to be additionally on this facet, (teaching a) nationwide crew, and I understand how onerous this job might be, however the communication with the golf equipment was all the time good.
