Lamine Yamal starts for Barcelona in tonight’s Copa del Rey semi-final first-leg against Atletico Madrid.
Yamal was unable to train with his Barcelona team-mates on Monday ahead of the game, presumably still feeling the effects of Saturday’s 2-0 La Liga win over Las Palmas.
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The Spain international posted an image of his bloodied sock to social media following the hard-fought victory, but he his available to feature against Diego Simeone’s side.
With 11 goals and 16 assists in 33 appearances across all competitions to his name so far this season, Yamal is a key player for Barcelona and their hopes of securing a positive first-leg result have been boosted.
Furthermore, as expected, Dani Olmo starts after climbing off the bench to score Barca’s opener against Las Palmas.
“I think he can be a starter, but it is also more important to say that we have to take care of him,” Flick told reporters. “In a progressive way, it was a very important goal he scored in Las Palmas.”
Wojciech Szczesny continues in between the posts ahead of Inaki Pena once again. There is a change to the back four as Inigo Martinez joins Jules Kounde, Pau Cubarsi and Alejandro Balde.
Flick has plenty of midfield options at his disposal and has opted to hand a start to Frenkie De Jong alongside Pedri in a double pivot with Dani Olmo operating in the number 10 position.
Yamal keep his place on the right with Raphinha on the opposite flank as Ferran Torres leads the line despite after scoring a hat-trick in the last round against former club Valencia. This means Robert Lewandowski is on the bench,
Confirmed team news
Barcelona XI: Szczesny; Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Ferran
Substitutes: Araujo, Gavi, Lewandowski, Pena, Fermin, Casado, Pau Victor, Eric, Kochen, Fort, Gerard Martin
