How will Lamine Yamal approach his recovery?

BarcelonaAfter a capital victory on the always charged field of Getafe (0-2), Hansi Flick gave his disciples three days off. The Barça coach has taken advantage of the break to spend a few days in Germany with his family. Dani Olmo, Joan Garcia and Eric Garcia have needed less warm clothing, deciding to rent a small boat and get wet in some corner of the Costa Brava. While his teammates enjoyed a well-deserved decompression time, Lamine Yamal began to focus on recovering from the first muscular injury he has suffered as a footballer. He suffered it shortly before halftime during Celta's visit to Camp Nou a week ago. He needed to be substituted just after converting the penalty that meant the goal of a tight victory (1-0). When he shot from eleven meters, he was already injured. The biceps femoris of his left leg had said enough at the moment he dribbled past Yoel Lago in the play that Munuera Montero punished with a penalty.

The medical tests the following day at the Ciudad Deportiva Joan Gamper confirmed the diagnosis that everyone saw clearly from the first examination by Dr. Ricard Pruna in the Camp Nou locker room itself. Lamine Yamal said goodbye to the last six league games, but breathed easy because his participation in the World Cup was not in danger. In fact, Barça reflected this in its statement with the approval of the Mataró attacker, who wanted to make it clear to the Barça and Spanish national team fans that he will be ready to be one of the main attractions of the planetary event that will be held in less than two months in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Even so, there is fine print associated with it that must be taken into account so as not to risk the health of the best footballer at Barça and Spain. Hamstring injuries are experts at playing tricks, and if they are not treated with care and patience, they can be subject to relapse, with the added factor of a body that is still in its growth stage. That is why choosing the right treatment goes beyond the immediate agenda. The coming months will be decisive in avoiding premature muscular calvaries like those of Pedri, Dembélé, or Messi.

If Lamine Yamal had suffered the same injury without the World Cup around the corner, the recovery time set and publicized would have been approximately a month and a half. But since the calendar is what it is, all parties have decided to be cautious with the timelines, to the point that it is most likely that the footballer will not have a leading role in the first two theoretically accessible group stage matches against Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia, scheduled for June 15 and 21. On the one hand, Barça wants to avoid him falling into the relapse loop so common in muscle injuries, which would condition his performance for the start of next season. And, on the other hand, Luis de la Fuente and his staff, who last fall pushed Lamine Yamal during his pubic problems, are now in favor of waiting for him 100% for the knockout stages. In other words, the Spanish coach hopes to resolve the formality in a not very demanding group stage without having to need the best version of the young Catalan star.

Lamine Yamal is aiming for the second round

In fact, in Las Rozas they will let Barça define and monitor Lamine Yamal's recovery guidelines. Unlike what happens with Raphinha, who has trusted trainers and took more than a week to be in the hands of the Barça professionals to treat his last injury, the Maresme native will spend most of the time in Sant Joan Despí, but under the supervision of Raúl Martínez and Fernando Galán, two physiotherapists who work for Barça and also for the RFEF. In fact, the idea is that he does not concentrate with the red team during the first training camp set by De la Fuente, at the beginning of June, but rather wait another week and join those selected for the World Cup who participate in the Champions League final, such as David Raya, Martín Zubimendi, Christian Mosquera and Mikel Merino (Arsenal), Fabián Ruiz (PSG) or Marcos Llorente (Atlético de Madrid). This second group of footballers would join the concentration directly in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the expedition will be based for the duration of the World Cup.