It's hard to take Hansi Flick's smile off his face, but the Spanish national team has managed to do just that. Lamine Yamal didn't take to the pitch for training this Saturday, and in the press conference prior to Sunday's match against Valencia (9 p.m.), the German coach confirmed that the Barça star would be out. "He went to the Spanish national team with discomfort. He played both games, 73 and 79 minutes, even though the team was winning by a landslide," Flick insisted, "with painkillers. He didn't train, but he played. I don't think this is the way to take care of the players. I'm very sad, I'm very sad, I'm very sad, I'm very sad." Barça.

Problems for Hansi Flick ahead of the third La Liga match. The German coach already knows he will be without Pablo Gavi, who is injured in his right knee. The Andalusian left Friday's training session due to discomfort that, according to ARA, may be somewhat more serious than initially believed, when the club insisted it was "only" a knock. The problems are in the same knee that Gavi seriously injured two years ago – the right one – and specifically in the meniscus area. The Barça player's joint is quite swollen, so it is recommended that tests be completed once the bruise subsides.

"Xavi, I arrived late because people stopped me on the metro, forgive me," Ansu Fati told Xavi Martín, looking bewildered by what had just happened to him. He was returning to La Masia from his parents' house – that day he was due to make his Barça first-team debut, at just 16 years old. "I went to my office, grabbed the front pages of the newspapers and told him: 'They stopped you for that. And from now on, you have to change your habits because you're a well-known person,'" Xavi Martín, director of La Masía between 2019 and 2021, recalls to ARA. He was also a member of the Barça squad with whom Martín coincided during his time as director of La Masia. The list includes Lamine Yamal, Cubarsí, Balde, Casadó, Marc Bernal, Fermín and Gavi. He still keeps in touch with many of them. The latter two were at La Masia because their families lived outside of Catalonia, but the club also believes the Blaugrana home is the best place for players experiencing difficult situations. This was the case with Lamine Yamal. "The decision was based on his situation from a family perspective. There could be more dysfunctional families or those who lived in difficult areas. There were players who needed academic, nutritional, sleep, and rest monitoring," Martín explained during the interview at his home in Vilassar de Mar.