Barcelona coach Hansi Flick confirms that their best winger Lamine Yamal could be on the bench against Newcastle United in their UCL 2025-26 opening match if he recovers from a groin injury sustained recently.
Yamal missed the training today and will miss Sunday's game against Valencia in the La Liga. The 18-year-old talent came back from national duty with discomfort and skipped today’s training session. Shortly after, Flick confirmed in the press conference that he won’t be available tomorrow.
While speaking to the press, Hansi Flick said, "He (Lamine Yamal) won't be available. He went off to play for Spain with some pain and did not train. They gave him painkillers so he could play. They had at least a three-goal lead in both matches, and he still played 73 and 79 minutes. Between the games, he wasn’t able to train. That’s not looking after the player. I’m very sad about this." Yamal, regarded as Spain’s top young talent and Barcelona’s number 10, featured in both of last week’s 2026 World Cup qualifying victories over Bulgaria and Turkey.
Maybe it's all about my broken Spanish, and his English not being good: Hansi Flick said about talks with Luis de la Fuente
Since Flick is quite disappointed about the injury Yamal is facing, he also regrets his miscommunication with Luis de la Fuente, the Spanish coach. Flick, the former Germany coach, shared that he had a short exchange with de la Fuente through text messages. "Maybe it’s all about my Spanish not being good, his English not being good. Communication… there could be better. 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."
Besides Yamal, Flick also confirmed that Frenkie de Jong will also be missing the Valencia match, but will join the Newcastle trip, and trained with the team on Sunday. Barcelona will face Valencia at the 6,000-seater Johan Cruyff training ground as the iconic Camp Nou remains under renovation.
