Lamine Yamal returned to Barcelona early as he suffered a minor injury during Spain’s 1-0 win over Denmark on Saturday. While the RFEF informed that it was “a case of muscle strain,” the 17-year-old star is set to rest ahead of the Catalan’s key matches.
The RFEF informed on Tuesdays that the tests “did not reveal any structural injury,” but they still decided to not force Yamal. “Prioritizing the player’s health and to avoid any risk of injury ahead of the upcoming match against Serbia, it has been decided to withdraw him from the squad,” the statement said.
According to Sport, Barcelona also won’t take any risks with the player, as he is key in Hansi Flick’s plans. The club “will use this week to allow the player to recover and implement a workload management plan for the academy player for the remainder of the year” with the goal of “reducing his match load.”
Per the report, Flick and the sporting management “are aligned in a strategy to avoid overburdening him with unnecessary minutes.” Yamal’s absence would be a hard setback for the Cules, especially with clashes against Real Madrid in El Clasico and Bayern Munich in the Champions League are on the horizon.
Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona celebrates (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
For now, doubtful for his club’s game against Sevilla a week from now if an overload is confirmed by Barca medical staff, according to journalist Javi Miguel. Meanwhile, Yamal is going to be replaced by Atletico Madrid’s Rodrigo Riquelme for Tuesday’s clash versus Serbia.
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Yamal’s stats for Barcelona this season
This season, Yamal has had 11 appearances, scoring five goals and giving five assists with Barcelona across all competitions. According to TransferMarkt, he has been in the starting eleven of 89% of the matches.
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Despite being only 17 years old, Yamal has been key for the Catalans’ start of the season. Barca currently leads the Spanish top flight by three points going into an installment of El Clasico which could prove key to where the La Liga title ends up come May.
