Football

Yamal out of Spain World Cup qualifiers

Barcelona winger, Lamine Yamal, is out for “two to three weeks” after aggravating a groin injury and will miss Spain’s World Cup qualifying matches against Georgia and Bulgaria next week.

The 18-year-old, who missed four games after the issue first arose on international duty in September, returned to action on Sunday when he came off the bench to help Barcelona to a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad.

But the injury flared up again after Yamal played in Barcelona’s Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain on Wednesday.

Barcelona said: “The groin problem for Lamine Yamal has returned following the game against PSG.

“The player will miss [Sunday’s] game against Sevilla and his recovery time is estimated at 2-3 weeks.”

Yamal’s second lay-off is the latest chapter in an ongoing dispute between club and country about care of the young player, who has scored two goals and made four assists in five Barcelona appearances this season.

“Spain, they have the best team in the world, best players in the world,” Barcelona manager Hansi Flick said after Yamal was first ruled out.

“So, maybe they will also want to take care of our players, our young players, but it’s like they are doing this [to them].”

When asked about the criticism on Friday, Spain manager Luis de la Fuente denied that there was any conflict between them, but said he “was surprised by the German manager’s comments, given that [Flick] is a manager who has also coached a national team and I thought he would have had more empathy”.

(BBC Sport)

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