Deco eases Barcelona tensions with Spanish Football Federation

Much has been made of the tense situation with Barcelona and the Spanish Football Federation, which reared up last month when Lamine Yamal returned from Spain duty with a pubis injury. The Catalans claimed that those involved in the national team knew about the issue but decided to play him anyway, whereas this has been disputed from the opposite side.

Lamine Yamal missed four matches with the injury before making a comeback, but he has since suffered a relapse. As such, he has been ruled out of Spain duty for this month’s international break, while he is also considered doubtful for El Clasico in less than three weeks’ time.

In the weeks after the initial incident with the 18-year-old, there was a public spat between Barcelona manager Hansi Flick and Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente, but tensions are now been defused by sporting director Deco, who spoke on situation during an interview with Tot Costa (via MD).

“Lamine came with an overloaded pubis, he tried to recover for the PSG game, to be able to play at his best level, but things have not gone so well as he had to play the 90 minutes with such intensity. Post-match, it was decided that he would not play in Seville because he would have to make a special plan. The report was sent to the Federation. I don’t know if Lamine spoke with de la Fuente, he is free to do so – de la Fuente also spoke with Gavi. Lamine was still in discomfort, he was not well, we spoke internally at the club and from there, the national team was informed.

“I am not in the day-to-day of the national team to know how they take care of the players. We know that they treat the players well, we talk to (director of football) Aitor Karanka and that’s how it is. It’s normal that you don’t like a situation like this.”

Deco: “It is a gift for Barcelona to have Lamine Yamal”

Deco also reiterated that it is very important for Barcelona to take care of Lamine Yamal themselves, as well as the rest of their players.

“What we do is take care of the players: Lamine, Raphinha, Casadó, Bernal – whoever, each player has his world. We all manage to have Lamine, but if you are important in the Barcelona world, you are important in the world. You have to know how to handle it, but it is much more on a personal level.

“It’s up to us to help the players on the pitch and off the pitch, from there, age is age. I’m 48, I’m not 18, but Lamine has shown a different maturity because he’s a special player, but he’s still 18 years old. For Barcelona and the world it is a gift to have Lamine, we have to be happy with this.”