Hansi Flick was furious over Lamine Yamal's injury, which was sustained during the Spanish national team's matches with Bulgaria and Turkey earlier in September, and said that the federation should take more care of its stars, BTA reported.
Lamine Yamal suffered a groin injury during a match with the national team in Turkey, and during Bulgaria's visit it turned out that he had a minor back injury. The 18-year-old prodigy will therefore miss Barcelona's La Liga match against Valencia on Sunday and is questionable for next week's Champions League match against Newcastle United because of the injury, Flick told reporters today.
"Lamine will not be able to play tomorrow, which is a shame. He played for the national team despite the pain. He had problems, he played 79 and 73 minutes and he didn't even train between games because of the pain," Flick said at the start of the press conference. "This is not real and genuine care for the players, is it? It's not. Spain has the best team in the world, the best players in the world, in every position people are incredibly good. So I expect them to want to take care of our players. Given that these players are very young and the future is ahead of them. But obviously that's not the case. But that's all I'm going to say and I just want to add that I'm very sad about the development of the situation." Yamal missed training on Friday after complaining of discomfort. Flick said he already had an injury and was given painkillers so he could play for Spain. The teenager, who helped Spain win Euro 2020 last year, played 152 minutes in the World Cup qualifiers away to Bulgaria and Turkey last week, contributing three assists as the Spaniards scored nine goals in total. And Flick - a former Germany coach - said he had not spoken to Spain coach Luis de la Fuente about the matter.
"I was also on that side, as a national team coach. I know how difficult this job is sometimes. I never spoke to him. I had one text message conversation, but I never spoke to him. My Spanish is not good, his English is not good, so maybe that is the problem", Flick added. "But in the end - "Since we have more than one player in the national team, communication can be better."
Flick's team will also be without midfielder Frenkie de Jong against Valencia, who suffered an injury during a match with the Netherlands national team. Midfielder Marc Bernal, 18, will return after 13 months out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Barcelona spokesman Gabriel Martinez, who was hosting the press conference today, added of Yamal's condition: "It is not yet possible to say whether he will play for Newcastle in the Champions League. He has inflammation of the pubic bone and is being constantly examined. His participation in Europe is in doubt."