Officials from the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) are reported to have been left surprised by Hansi Flick’s criticism over Lamine Yamal’s injury.
The Barcelona manager took aim at the RFEF for their management of Yamal, who has returned injured from an international window which saw him start twice for Spain. Flick accused medical staff of “not looking after” Yamal by making him train through pain and declining to rest the winger even when Luis de la Fuente’s side had wrapped up comfortable wins over both Bulgaria and Türkiye.
Yamal will be unavailable for Sunday’s meeting with Valencia and is also a doubt for Barcelona’s Champions League opener against Newcastle United as a result.
According to SPORT, those inside the RFEF have rejected Flick’s allegations. Officials claim nobody from Barcelona reported any concerns over Yamal’s fitness at the start of the international window, including Spain physio Fernando Galán, who is directly responsible for managing the Barcelona players in the squad.
Such concerns were raised about Gavi, who was initially called up to De la Fuente’s squad but was quickly removed.
The RFEF believe they take particularly good care of Barcelona players, allowing them to work directly with Galán and encouraging contact with the Blaugrana if there are any fitness concerns, meaning they have taken Flick’s criticism with surprise.
A separate report from the same outlet revealed the extent of Flick’s anger. The manager was “furious” to learn of Yamal’s injury and is said to have specifically asked to use his press conference to lash out at the RFEF.
Flick, a former international manager with Germany, argued Spain and the RFEF showed a lack of care towards their players and blatant disrespect to Barcelona with their management of Yamal, who missed just 28 minutes of action over two games which ended with a combined scoreline of 9–0 in Spain’s favor.
While Yamal’s injury is not thought to be particularly serious, it will prevent the star winger from featuring in at least one game which, in Flick’s eyes, is unacceptable.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lamine Yamal Injury: Spain Officials ‘Stunned’ by Hansi Flick Accusations.