Barcelona's FC announces substantial injury setback for Lamine Yamal, predicting prolonged recovery period.
Barcelona announced through a social media post on Monday afternoon in Europe that their star winger Lamine Yamal has sustained an injury. As an unusual move, they also disclosed the 17-year-old's estimated recovery period.
The statement opened by revealing that during the match against CD Leganes on Sunday, Yamal suffered a blow to his right ankle. Follow-up tests conducted on Monday indicated that he has a grade 1 ankle ligament injury. The prognosis is that he'll be sideline for three to four weeks.
This development poses a significant challenge for Barcelona, as it means the team will miss out on their Kopa Trophy and Golden Boy award recipient for a crucial game against Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
Atletico Madrid will be visiting Montjuic for the match, and the team is currently level on points with La Liga leader, having one game in hand. The visitors have experienced back-to-back home losses against Las Palmas and Leganes, making this an opportune moment for Barcelona.
However, if Lamine's injury extends beyond three weeks, he may miss the Spanish Cup semifinal encounter with Athletic Club on January 8, and potentially the final against Real Madrid or Mallorca if they manage to progress past the Basques.
Interestingly, this is a recurrence of the injury that had sidelined him in November. Once again, the expected recovery period was disclosed. Previously, he was out for 22 days and three games, including a La Liga loss and a draw against Real Sociedad and Celta Vigo, respectively. This also led to questions regarding Flick's perceived over-reliance on the Euro 2024 champion with Spain.
Meanwhile, Flick is also unavailable for the Atleti match due to a red card he received at Real Betis which resulted in a two-match ban, a portion of which was served during the Leganes defeat.
With Flick's suspension or absence, it falls on him to decide who will replace Lamine on the right wing for the upcoming matches and beyond. In an ideal scenario, Lamine would return for the Spanish Super Cup after just three weeks on the sidelines. If he's out for the whole month, however, Barcelona may have to consider players like those from Getafe (around January 19 in La Liga) or Benfica (in the Champions League on January 21).
In the same post, Barcelona mentioned that the injury occurred during their match against CD Leganes, which was handled by Hansi Flick due to his team's coach's suspension. Speaking of replacements, if Lamine Yamal's recovery period exceeds three weeks, Real Madrid could potentially benefit from his absence in the Spanish Cup semifinal if Barcelona faces Athletic Club.
