Barcelona ‘can do as it pleases’ over Lamine Yamal, says Spanish journalist

Spanish journalist Paul Tenorio has questioned the Spanish Football Federation’s handling of Barcelona after Lamine Yamal was allowed to remain with the club to continue recovering from a knee injury instead of travelling with Spain to Prague.

Speaking on the La Tribu programme on Radio MARCA, Tenorio linked the decision to the relationship between Barcelona president Joan Laporta and Spanish Football Federation president Rafael Louzan.

He said Barcelona’s large representation in the national team gave the club an advantage, describing the relationship between Laporta and Louzan as “excellent”.

Summing up his view of the freedom afforded to the club, Tenorio said: “They do whatever they want.”

The discussion centred on Yamal, who finished Barcelona’s match against Atletico Madrid with pain in his right knee. After medical examinations, the Spanish Football Federation confirmed that the 17-year-old would stay in Barcelona to continue his recovery rather than join the squad for the trip to the Czech capital.

Spain won 2-0 against Czech Republic in Prague, with Yamal and Real Sociedad striker Mikel Oyarzabal both absent.

Following the victory, Spain manager Luis de la Fuente said the two players would join the squad ahead of the next match against England at Metropolitano.

The federation had previously said Oyarzabal’s arrival had been delayed because he was suffering from flu and had not travelled to Prague with the rest of the squad.

However, De la Fuente offered a different explanation after the match. He said Oyarzabal had missed the trip because he was celebrating the birth of his new child, adding that the forward would join Yamal in preparing for the game against England.

Tenorio also compared the situation with Real Madrid and France forward Kylian Mbappe, who joined up with the French squad despite experiencing hamstring pain.

He argued that clubs put pressure on players to avoid giving their maximum effort when representing their countries, saying footballers often respond to those demands. His comments were made in the context of the influence clubs can have over the international availability of their players.

Mbappe remained with France, although manager Zinedine Zidane decided to rest him for the match against Italy because of the hamstring problem. Zidane expects Mbappe to be fit for France’s meeting with Turkey.

The contrasting cases of Yamal and Mbappe prompted Tenorio to question whether Barcelona had been given greater latitude by the Spanish Football Federation, particularly because of the close relationship between the two presidents and the number of Barcelona players involved with Spain.