FC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has dismissed any fitness worries over Lamine Yamal, in the wake of the teenage galactico’s injury scare in the blowout win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday. Up next is a trip to relegation-scrapping Leganes in a La Liga Saturday night fixture, so it’s a very rapid turnaround.
Yamal was replaced, late in the game, by Ansu Fati during Barcelona’s 4-0 rout of BVB in the UEFA Champions League.
FC Barcelona at Leganes FYIs
Kick: Sat. April 12, 8pm, Estadio Municipal de Butarque
La Liga Standing: Leganes 18th, 28 pts, Barca 1st, 67 pts
La Liga Form: Leganes WLLLD Barcelona WWWWD
Result Probability: Leganes 12% Draw 16% Barca 72%
Barca Team News
“Lamine Yamal has no injury, he’s fine,” Flick said after the Dortmund destruction. “He’s played a lot of minutes recently and so it was good to rest a bit.”
He would then go on to add: “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.”
That is the only Barca team news item right now.
Given that Barca are in the midst of some serious fixture congestion right now, and this match is the easiest on the docket for while, expect Flick to do some squad rotation here.
FC Barcelona Starting XI Prediction at Leganes
Wojcieh Szczesny; Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsi, Alejandro Balde; Frenkie De Jong, Eric Garcia; Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Raphinha; Robert Lewandowski
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.
