Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal pulled out of Friday’s training session due to sudden pain, ruling him out of the planned full-team workout ahead of Sunday’s La Liga derby with Espanyol.
As reported by Spanish newspaper Sport, the young forward raised a brief alarm during Friday’s session when discomfort forced him to sit out the remainder of the workout as a precaution. Following an immediate examination by the club’s medical team, led by Dr Ricard Bruna, the diagnosis was reassuring: merely a “muscle strain”, common at this stage of the season.
Barcelona describe the issue as an isolated one that will not affect his long-term fitness, and confirm he remains in the squad for today’s match against Espanyol.
The only advice he received was to rest on Saturday in order to shake off the minor discomfort.
With a difficult clash against Atlético Madrid scheduled for Tuesday, the club may still opt to rest the youngster for the derby; the final call will be made this morning.
As for the line-up, Barcelona could see extensive rotation and numerous changes to the starting XI today, with Gavi emerging as a candidate to return to the starting line-up following hints from Hansi Flick, who said at the press conference: “He’s a good option to start tomorrow; we’ll see if he can play 90 minutes or not. We have to take it step by step. On Wednesday he played 45 minutes and I think he’s ready to start.”
Rony Bardi could therefore earn a start if Yamal is rested, given the importance of Tuesday’s Champions League meeting with Atlético and the need for full rotation.
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