Hansi Flick has allayed any injury fears over Lamine Yamal after Barcelona’s stunning Champions League rout of Borussia Dortmund.
The teenage superstar enjoyed a central role in a dominant 4-0 victory in Wednesday night’s one-sided quarter-final first-leg tie at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, producing a devastating display alongside fellow in-form attackers Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski to help quadruple-chasing Barca put one foot firmly in the last four against either Bayern Munich or Inter Milan.
The only potential concern that threatened to take considerable shine off an otherwise superb evening for Barcelona was the sight of Yamal being replaced late on by Ansu Fati, having appeared to signal to the bench that he needed to be replaced.
Being without the record-breaking 17-year-old for any of the season run-in would be a major blow for the Blaugrana, who can still win four major trophies this term with a four-point lead over Real Madrid in the LaLiga title race ahead of the last eight games and a Copa del Rey final date with their fiercest rivals coming up in Seville later this month. They already beat Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia back in January.
However, head coach Flick has now dismissed any fitness worries over Yamal ahead of a trip to face relegation-battling Leganes in LaLiga on Saturday night, a game that is swiftly followed by the second leg against Dortmund to come in Germany next week.
Barcelona also host both Celta Vigo and Real Mallorca before the Copa del Rey final on April 26, with further derbies against Madrid and Espanyol on the way in May.
“Lamine Yamal has no injury, he’s fine,” Flick said after the statement win over Dortmund. “He’s played a lot of minutes recently and so it was good to rest a bit.”
He later added: “It’s important for Ansu Fati to get minutes, he's training well, and he deserved to play. It was good for Lamine to rest and also for Ansu Fati to play.”
