In light of the current circumstances that Barcelona is going through, from player absences due to international duties and injuries, coach Hans Flick has decided to grant an exceptional rest period to some of the team’s players. Flick aims through this step to reorganize the team’s ranks and take advantage of the international break before the resumption of competitions.
With 11 players traveling to their national teams around the world, and seven injured players on the team’s list, namely: “Lamine Yamal”, “Casadó”, “Raphinha”, “Juan García” (all of whom are waiting for the green light to return after the break), in addition to “Pedri” who is expected to return against “Chelsea”, as well as “Gavi” and “Ter Stegen”, Flick felt that giving the remaining players a short break is the best option at the moment.
The non-international players will enjoy four full days of rest starting from Friday until Tuesday morning, before returning to the sports city to resume training under the supervision of the German coach.
Through this break, Flick seeks to enable the players to regain their energy before entering a crucial phase of the season, especially with the pressure of local and European matches, and the need to present the best possible performance from Barcelona in the coming weeks.
This short break may be a decisive factor in renewing the vitality of the team, which is suffering from absences more than ever before.
Yamal Crisis
In a separate context, Barcelona sought to contain the dispute with the Spanish Football Federation and the controversy surrounding its young star “Lamine Yamal”, who underwent a surprise surgery hours before the start of the Spanish national team camp last Monday.
The Catalan newspaper “Mundo Deportivo” reported that the treatment that “Lamine Yamal” received to relieve groin pain sparked a new controversy between the Barcelona administration and officials of the Spanish Federation.
The newspaper confirmed that the club does not object to the treatment, stressing that its main goal was to protect the player’s physical safety, and it informed the Spanish Federation of this.
The newspaper also quoted sources inside Barcelona as saying that club officials contacted the doctors of the Spanish Federation on Sunday evening, after the team’s match against Celta Vigo in the local league, and told them that “Yamal” would undergo advanced medical examinations, under the supervision of a doctor from outside the club, on Monday morning, to accurately assess the groin pain.
Barcelona was not aware that the Belgian doctor, “Schilders”, would recommend urgent surgery for the young player, which requires a period of rest, according to the newspaper.
When the Belgian doctor informed the Barcelona administration of the benefits of the operation, and the decision was made, the club informed the Federation at around one o’clock in the afternoon that the player would need 4 or 5 days of rest. The Spanish Federation confirmed that it was informed of the matter before two o’clock in the afternoon.
The Catalan newspaper pointed out that the reason for the delay in Barcelona’s official statement is that the Belgian doctor waited until he traveled to London to write his full medical report on the condition of “Lamine Yamal” and send it to the club.
After Barcelona received the medical report from the Belgian expert, it sent it to the Federation. The report indicated the need to rest the player for a period ranging between 7 and 10 days, which prompted the Federation to exclude “Yamal” from the national team camp the following day.
Federation Statement
The Spanish Federation began its comment on the crisis with a statement that read: “The medical staff of the Spanish Federation would like to express its surprise and dissatisfaction, after learning at 13:47 on Monday, November 10, the day of the official gathering with the national team, that the player Lamine Yamal underwent on the same morning an interventional treatment procedure, using radio waves to treat his pain in the groin area.”
The statement added: “This was done without any prior notice to the medical staff of the national team, and we were only informed of the details through a report that reached us at 22:40 yesterday evening, which included a medical recommendation for rest for 7-10 days.”
The German coach Hans Flick, the coach of Barcelona, had expressed his dissatisfaction with the intensive participation of “Lamine Yamal” with the Spanish national team in the past international period, despite his feeling of fatigue, stressing that fatigue is the cause of his groin injury.
The coach of the Spanish national team, Luis de la Fuente, responded to Flick in statements reported by the newspaper “AS” saying: “If I had something to say to a colleague, I would say it in secret”, in reference to his anger at Flick’s public statements.
De la Fuente continued: “They didn’t tell us anything then, Yamal didn’t tell us about any groin pain, he only said there was pain in the lower back… Lamine is sad, he is a very committed and beloved player with the national team, he left very sad, he was looking forward to playing these matches, he wants to have a great season with his club, and winning the World Cup is etched in his mind.”
He added: “He is the one who is suffering the most currently, he always wishes to return, and whoever says otherwise is a liar, or has bad intentions… A plan can be put in place to rotate players and give them rest and opportunities to participate, but football sometimes takes us in a different direction… We try to manage their playing minutes carefully, taking into account that we have two very important matches.”
