Lamine Yamal injury: Barcelona star is a doubt to face Newcastle United in the Champions League at St James’ Park on Thursday night.
The 18-year-old sensation suffered a groin injury while away on international duty with Spain, one that ruled him out for Barcelona’s La Liga match against Valencia on Sunday evening.
Lamal has missed training with Barcelona, with the club casting major doubt over whether he will be fit for the trip to St James’ Park on Thursday (8pm kick-off).
The teenage winger has proven to be a key player for Barcelona and Spain over the past couple of seasons. Lamal scored 18 goals in 55 games for Barcelona last season after helping Spain with the European Championships last summer.
But at just 18, the physical demands put on the youngster have been questioned with his new injury highlighting the potential issue further.
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Barcelona official statement confirms Lamine Yamal injury
A statement released on Barcelona’s official website read: “Lamine Yamal is having trouble in the pubic area that prevented him from training today and means he will play no part in Sunday's game with Valencia and will not be training with his team-mates until the problem is resolved.
“It means Barça will now be going into their first home game of the season without one of their most important players.”
Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick hit out at Spain’s management of Lamal.
“He won't be available,” Flick said. “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."
Eddie Howe reacts to Lamine Yamal injury news
The news of Lamal’s potential injury for the upcoming Champions League match made its way back to Newcastle and head coach Eddie Howe.
“I think whenever I get asked about these types of questions, I think my answer is always the same,” Howe admitted. “You want to play the best teams, you want to play against the best players, you want to challenge yourselves as much as you can.
“In saying that, we also want to win, so we'll take whoever they play. We know they've got world-class players in all the positions. It's irrelevant to a degree, but obviously I understand the question.”
Newcastle’s previous Champions League campaign saw one of the world’s best players in Kylian Mbappe experience a difficult evening with Paris Saint-Germain at St James’ Park back in October 2023 as The Magpies won 4-1.
Howe and Newcastle will be hoping for another memorable evening at St James’ Park later this week.
“For me, it's a magical game,” Howe said. “It's the type of game that you're desperate to be a part of, desperate to hopefully represent the club really well, and I think that's our challenge.
“Of course, there's connections with Sir Bobby [Robson], which we fully embrace, and that's what makes it such a special thing.”
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