Barcelona manager Hansi Flick offered some very good news in his Friday press conference ahead of Saturday’s _La Liga_ clash against Las Palmas: Lamine Yamal is back.
The teenage superstar, who has missed the last three games due to an ankle injury, was a full participant in training over the last couple of days and is back to 100% according to the coach, though Flick doesn’t yet know if he’ll be on the starting XI or on the bench.
> “\[Lamine\] is back and ready to play. We haven’t decided if he’ll play from the start, but he’ll play.”
Flick was also asked about who will replaced Marc Casadó, who misses this one due to a suspension. Casadó has become a key piece of the team, and the German coach gave a pretty strong hint that Gavi will be the one to take Casadó’s spot in midfield on Saturday.
> “After a long injury, it’s not easy to come back but Gavi is on the right track. There’s no doubt that he’s 100% fit. He’s young, with a lot of potential. Today, in training, I was very pleased with what I saw.”
Gavi has started once since making his season debut a couple of months ago, and has worked hard to regain full fitness and go on a run of consistent starts and minutes played. It sounds like he’ll be back in the lineup this weekend, and he might be accompanied by Yamal too.
Can’t wait for the team news.