The path to avoid the dispute that made Hansi Flick angry

BarcelonaThe Spanish national team call-ups at the beginning of last season caused a previously unheard-of event at Barça: Hansi Flick raised his voice in a press conference and was seen to be frankly annoyed. The star from Rocafonda started the season conditioned by a pubalgia that was bothering him, and this generated friction between the Barcelona coach and his counterpart in the Spanish national team, Luis de la Fuente. On Saturday, September 13, 2025, in the preview of a Barça-Valencia match, Flick exploded: "[Lamine] went to the Spanish national team with discomfort. He played both matches, 73 and 79 minutes, even though the team was winning by a landslide, with painkillers. He didn't train but he played. I don't think that is the way to take care of the players. I am very sad".

This opened Pandora's box. The rift between Barça and Spain, with Lamine Yamal in the middle, would continue during the next two international breaks. In October, Barça announced that Lamine Yamal was out for the match against Sevilla because he was again having "pubic discomfort". The club estimated the recovery time at between two and three weeks, and the announcement of the injury coincided with a new call-up by Luis de la Fuente, who hours earlier had announced that he was counting on the player from Rocafonda. The footballer was dropped from the Spanish national team.

In November the mess continued and intensified. Lamine was once again called off due to pubalgia problems, although at that time the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) expressed "its surprise and discomfort" with Barça. Basically, because on the same day that the blue and garnet footballer joined the Spanish national team, he had undergone an "invasive radiofrequency procedure". According to the RFEF statement, the procedure had been carried out "without prior communication to the national team's medical staff".

From the Spanish squad, they complained that they had only become aware of the procedure followed by Lamine through a report received that same night (at 10:40 PM) which indicated that the footballer would have to rest for between 7 and 10 days. In short: the blue and garnet move was to summon a Finnish expert in pubis injuries to provide this medical report, which freed him from two dispensable matches against Georgia and Turkey.

Karanka and Deco, key in the reconstruction of bridges between Barça and Spain

In a season that was to conclude with the celebration of the World Cup in the summer with Spain as one of the firm candidates to be champion, both from the noble offices of Barça and from those of the Spanish national team, diplomacy was activated to begin mending the rift. Two figures, helped by their personal friendship beyond the positions they held on both sides, were key in this reconstruction. On behalf of Spain, Aitor Karanka, sporting director of the RFEF, and on behalf of Barça, Deco, with the same position at the blue and garnet entity.

After this latest episode, which resulted in the national team withdrawing Lamine Yamal's call-up for the second consecutive time, both spoke about it in private. Karanka was the one who confirmed the meeting publicly. At an event held on November 11th at the Museum of Popular Arts and Customs of Seville, on the occasion of the presentation of the Spain-Turkey match that would be played a few days later at the La Cartuja Stadium, Karanka made the first communication to the press to begin repairing the conflict. "I have been in contact with Deco until this morning, when the decision was made. And it was done for the boy's sake, so that he can recover as soon as possible. The better he is at his club, the better he will be for the national team," said the sporting director of the RFEF.

Karanka also wanted to extinguish the crossfire that Flick and De la Fuente had maintained following the whole management of Lamine's pubalgia. "That is in the past now. Today's is the example that the national team takes care not only of Lamine, but of all the players. When there is a medical report indicating that there may be a risk of injury, the footballer is returned to their club." The winger would improve from his pubalgia, and by the March international call-up, the last one before the World Cup, he went to Spain's training camp without any kind of controversy.

Parallel to the footballer's recovery, office work continued between Barça and the RFEF. The great culmination would arrive in July: Spain was proclaimed World Cup champion with eight 'blaugranes' among its ranks. "Now the relationship is better," affirms a source from the 'blaugrana' entity to ARA. The latest example, although the context is different as it is not a World Cup or European Championship year (and also due to the footballer's role with Spain), is that of Eric Garcia. The Catalan defender, who was to be a starter on Saturday in the England-Spain match, noticed some discomfort in his left knee. He did not play as a precaution, the next day he underwent tests in Madrid and, despite it not being anything serious, he was released to return to Barcelona.