For the second time in two months, the relationship between Barcelona and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has been pushed to breaking point over the handling of Lamine Yamal‘s persistent groin injury.
In September, it was Barça coach Hansi Flick who was furious with how Spain accelerated Yamal’s recent fitness issues in FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Turkey and Bulgaria, accusing them, and national team coach Luis de la Fuente, of failing to take care of their young players.
This time, it is Spain and De la Fuente who have been left “surprised” after losing the 18-year-old forward for this week’s vital matches against Georgia and Turkey when they hope to book their place in next year’s finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
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Yamal was called up by Spain on Friday, but played 90 minutes and scored for Barça in Sunday’s 4-2 win at Celta Vigo (stream a replay of ESPN+ in the U.S.), then joined up with the national team in Madrid on Monday. However, on Tuesday, La Roja announced he had been released from international duty after they received a report from Barça which advised he needed to rest for up to 10 days after undergoing a procedure to treat his groin problem.
It is the latest in a series of events which have revealed cracks between Barça and the RFEF. At the center of the story is a teenager who has already played 140 senior games for club and country and whose long-term health and career at the top level is potentially at stake
Why has Yamal’s withdrawal annoyed the RFEF?
The RFEF feels it was kept out of the loop and made to look silly; De la Fuente was especially incredulous at how events unfolded this week. “I’ve never experienced a situation like this before,” he said on Tuesday. “I don’t think it’s very normal.”
This is the second successive time Spain have lost Yamal after calling him up. In October, on the same day he was named in the squad, Barça announced he was still having problems and would miss their game at Sevilla. This time, he did play for Barça in the final game before the break, but then underwent what Spain called an “invasive radiofrequency procedure” on Monday.
The RFEF’s ire centers on not being informed of the events. In a statement, it bemoaned only “learning the details through a report received at 10:40 p.m. on Monday,” two hours after Yamal had reported for international duty, “which indicated a medical recommendation for rest for 7-10 days.”
De la Fuente even suggested that Yamal, who helped Spain win the 2024 UEFA European Championship, was not aware of the consequences of the procedure. “He didn’t know exactly what had been done,” he said. “He didn’t know the recovery process. And we didn’t know anything.” Prioritising the player’s health, Yamal was allowed to return to Barcelona. “He had to go home,” De la Fuente added.
Sources at Barça — and latterly the club’s president Joan Laporta on Wednesday — claimed Spain had been kept up to date with the situation throughout.
Spain are already without winger Nico Williams, who along with Ballon d’Or runner-up Yamal is their main threat from out wide, and central midfielders Pedri and Rodri, so they could have done without losing more players as they attempt to book their place at the World Cup next summer. However, with 12 points from four games and a three-point lead over Turkey in qualifying Group E, Laporta doesn’t think Yamal’s absence will be problematic for the national team.
“The treatment has coincided with the national team games, but I don’t think it harms their qualification chances because they are well on track to progress,” he said.
What are the rules around squad call ups? Where does the power lie?
Clubs are obliged to release players to their national teams during FIFA-designated international windows. FIFA’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players describes it as “mandatory” and says “any agreement between a player and a club to the contrary is prohibited.”
However, it can be slightly more complicated when injuries are involved. If a club says a player has a knock, the national federation has the right to have the player examined by a doctor of its choice. If there’s disagreement about the player’s fitness, the FIFA Medical Committee can be consulted for an independent decision. That has not been necessary with Yamal, due to the RFEF accepting Barça’s medical report and releasing him.
How could this affect relations between Barca and the RFEF?
Behind the scenes, both Barça and the RFEF have attempted to play down talk of a club-vs.-country row; Barça sporting director Deco and the RFEF’s technical director Aitor Karanka have claimed there are no major issues.
However, coaches Flick and De la Fuente have not always been as measured. Flick first accused De la Fuente of not taking care of the younger players in his squad; De la Fuente shot back that he had no interest in the Flick’s thoughts, calling for more empathy given he had been a national team manager previously, with Germany. At no stage have either offered an olive branch. Both have spoken about the need for better communication, but neither seem to have taken the first step.
“No,” was Flick’s one-word answer on Friday when asked if he had spoken with Spain about managing Yamal’s minutes before events took another twist this week.
“What there needs to be is communication, a good relationship, sharing information,” De la Fuente said on Tuesday. “And in this case, there wasn’t.”
Sources told ESPN that there is a feeling at Barça that there has been carelessness with their players before.
Pedri’s injury problems after 2021 can’t be pinpointed to one exact moment, but he played a total of 68 games for club and country in the 2020-21 season and there are questions about why he played at both a European Championship and an Olympic Games in the same summer. Gavi injured his ACL while with Spain, and was forced to play on initially after picking up the injury. Marc Bernal was even called up — and then released — for U21 duty last month despite not having started a match since returning from an ACL injury.
Sources at Barça are loathe to criticize the RFEF too much, but do question some of the practices. Both parties should have the same goal, to get the best out of the players, and Barça’s players will be hugely important to Spain’s chances at the World Cup next summer. As well as Yamal, the likes of Pau Cubarsí, Dani Olmo, Pedri, Fermín López and Ferran Torres are among the players expected to make the final national team squad, should they qualify. It is for that reason that sources say Spain should be on the same page to ensure Yamal arrives as fresh as possible to the end of the season.
Meanwhile, sources at the RFEF say qualification cannot be taken for granted and add, given the limited time national teams spend together, that it’s important to take advantage of every camp to prepare for the challenges ahead.
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Ogden fears physical and mental burnout for overplayed Lamine Yamal
Mark Ogden explains why the physical and mental strain being put on Lamine Yamal as a teenager could shorten his career in the long term.
How long has he been carrying this injury?
This is the slightly complicated part. Effectively, Yamal has a persistent groin injury, often referred to as an “athletic pubalgia” or a sports hernia. It is not an impact injury, but brought on by wear and tear through repetitive actions. It can’t be attributed to one particular moment, challenge or clash. It’s likely Yamal was, either knowingly or not, dealing with it before that September international break, but ESPN sources single out that period as being key in the deterioration of the issue.
Flick accused Spain of administering pain-killers to get him through the wins against Bulgaria and Turkey; the RFEF suggested that was not the case but did not explicitly deny it.
After those games, Yamal returned to training with Barça before the club released a statement saying he would miss the Valencia game. He went on to miss four games in total, before playing against Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain.
Barça then released another statement saying the issue had “reappeared” after the PSG match and he would need “two to three weeks to recover.”
Yamal missed the defeat to Sevilla and Spain games against Bulgaria and Georgia in October before returning for Barça’s 2-1 win over Girona on Oct. 18. Including that Girona fixture, he has now started six consecutive games for Barça, scoring four goals and assisting three.
Has it been affecting his performances?
Yamal started the campaign in decent form, contributing two goals and two assists in the first three LaLiga games of the season, but struggled to find his feet after the problems presented themselves during the September international break.
He returned with an assist in a 30-minute cameo against Real Sociedad on Sept. 28 and very briefly looked ready to explode again with a brilliant solo run in the first minute of the Champions League defeat to PSG three days later. However, that dribble was his highlight of a night when he struggled to make the impact we have become accustomed to him making. That was a signal for him to stop again.
Since returning for a second time, the statistics have not always matched the sensations. He either scored or assisted — or both — in the wins over Girona, Olympiacos and Elche, but failed to go above 62 touches in any of those games and, despite managing 79 touches against Real Madrid, was on the fringes of the 2-1 Clásico defeat in October. Vinícius Júnior taunted him in that game by saying “you only pass backwards,” alluding to the fact Yamal was not his usual self.
Flick frequently spoke about Yamal managing the problem and it seemed evident he was lacking either that extra 10% needed to breeze beyond opponents, the confidence to do so, or a bit of both.
That was certainly not the case against Club Brugge last week, though. As Barça toiled to a 3-3 draw in Belgium, Yamal showed his characteristic “Main Character Energy” to put the team on his back and help secure a point, scoring a brilliant solo goal and setting up the late equalizer. He followed up that 102-touch performance with a 101-touch showing against Celta, complete with another goal, as he was more involved and energetic once again.
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Celta Vigo vs. Barcelona – Game Highlights
Watch the Game Highlights from Celta Vigo vs. Barcelona, 11/10/2025
How have Barcelona been managing it?
That Brugge performance was accompanied with comments from Flick which suggested Yamal, if he wasn’t before, was now taking the issue seriously.
“For me, he changed his discipline,” Flick said. “He’s much, much better now. He’s really training good. Also in the gym, the treatments he has everyday … It’s important for this injury that he’s doing it like this. I think also he comes back to the best level, but it’s not over, so it’s not done this injury.”
Yamal’s day-to-day looks different now. In addition to team training, he is having much more treatment with the physios and doing specific gym work on the side, involving resistance bands, to help strengthen the muscles around the groin, pubis and adductor to heal the problem.
It is complicated to manage. Sources say the on-pitch effects include pain with cutting and turning, and a drop in top-end acceleration (which are key assets of Yamal’s game), but that rest alone will not fix it and, if left, it could become chronic. They key is graded strengthening and controlled re-exposure.
Earlier this week, Barça sought the opinion of a specialist in athletes’ hip and groin injuries. Ernest Schilders, upon the recommendation of club doctor Ricard Pruna, visited the club’s training base on the day Yamal underwent the procedure which saw him released from Spain duty. Club sources say Schilders’ appraisal was generally positive and that surgery will not be required.
However, given the nature of the problem, nothing can be ruled out. It can be overcome in weeks, but if not, surgery could be needed.
“I had surgery for a sports hernia,” former Atlético Madrid midfielder and ESPN analyst Mario Suárez said. “I managed to keep going for three or four months with anti-inflammatories and at the end of the season I had the operation. It never gave me any problems again.”
It all tallies with Flick’s repeated message in recent weeks: “It’s not over.”
It is a delicate situation for Yamal to be in. Barça know more than most the dangers of overplaying youngsters, given the varying problems Pedri, Gavi and Ansu Fati, who all debuted for the club aged 16, have had in recent years.
A recent FIFPRO report — titled “Overworked and Underprotected: Player Heath and Performance Impact” — detailed how Yamal clocked up over 8,000 minutes before turning 18. No other elite footballer has registered anywhere close to that amount.
Barça and Spain need to get this one right.
