Lamine Yamal Injury: Hansi Flick Slams Spain Says, ‘Maybe It’s About My Spanish…’ | Sports News

Hansi Flick with Lamine Yamal (AP)

A ‘really sad’ Hansi Flick chastised the Spain national football team for Lamine Yamal’s groin injury, which will force him out of Barca’s upcoming La Liga tie against Valencia. The Barcelona boss also regretted his miscommunication with Spain coach, Luis de la Fuente, speculating that his broken Spanish was to blame.

Yamal, the biggest young talent in Spain and Barca’s number 10, played twice in the 2026 World Cup qualifying wins against Bulgaria and Turkey last week. Since returning, he hasn’t trained with Barca, and there are fears he might also miss the Spanish giants’ opening Champions League 2025-26 clash against Newcastle United.

“He will not be available for me, it’s a pity,” Flick told reporters on Saturday. “He went to the national team with pain, he did not train, he got painkillers for playing. In every match, they were three goals ahead, he played 79 and 73 minutes. Between the matches, he didn’t train. This is not taking care of players. Spain have the best team in the world, the best players in the world. In every position, they are unbelievably good. Maybe also when we want to take care of players, young players, it’s like that, doing this… I’m really sad about this,” he added.

Flick, who has coached Germany previously, revealed that he had spoken briefly with de la Fuente via text message.

“Maybe it’s all about my Spanish not being good, his English not being good. Communication… there could be better,” Flick said. “I was also on this side, the national team, and I know how hard this job can be, but the communication with the clubs was always good.”

Flick further confirmed that midfielder Frenkie de Jong would also miss the Valencia game, though Marc Bernal is fit to return to the squad for the first time since suffering a long-term knee injury nine months ago.

Won’t use stadium as an excuse: Flick

Barcelona will host Valencia in the 6,000-capacity Johan Cruyff training ground because the iconic Camp Nou is still undergoing refurbishment.

“I spoke with the players, the captains, and they said it will not affect us,” Flick said. “When we play at the new Camp Nou, 105,000 , maybe it’s a little bit different to playing at the Johan. As I said before it’s not an excuse, I will not use it, Valencia also has to play in this stadium.”