Against Leganes, Lamine Yamal was substituted in the 75th minute. The player felt discomfort, with medical tests after Sunday’s match confirming he had suffered an injury to his right ankle. He will be out for three to four weeks.
Two of these four weeks will be part of the Christmas break in La Liga, so he will not miss too many games, but it comes before the most difficult test before the holidays: The visit of Atletico Madrid tonight (Saturday).
Diego Simeone’s side are one of Hansi Flick’s team’s direct rivals in the fight for the 2024-25 league title. They are level on 38 points and, although the Madrid side have a game in hand, a win would allow Barcelona to stay top of the table even if Atletico win that spare match.
Barca are going through a dip in results in La Liga which contrasts with their five-game winning streak in the Champions League form. They have taken only five points from the past 18 available domestically and this blip has come against opponents who should be relatively straightforward for them.
In this context, Flick has to deal with the structural absence of Yamal in one of the most delicate moments of the season. How to replace the 17-year-old forward?
“We have to accept the injury and that he can’t play, another player will play in his place. We have options in mind, but we have not yet made a decision on who will play,” Flick said at the pre-match press conference, the last one he will give in 2024 as he has to serve one more game of a suspension for the red card he received two weeks ago against Real Betis.
Although Yamal’s absence worries the coach — Barca took one point from the two league fixtures he has missed this season — the coach is correct that he has several options. The two who seem most likely to be deployed against Atletico and beyond are Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez.
Yamal was injured in the 1-0 loss to Leganes on Sunday (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
When Yamal was out with an ankle problem in November, Lopez was used, in part because at the time Torres was recovering from injury himself and only returned against Las Palmas on November 30. Now, the Spain international who calls himself ‘The Shark’ is in good form — Torres has scored four goals in the five games since that comeback late last month, two of them decisive in the 3-2 Champions League win at Borussia Dortmund.
Although Torres has been playing as a centre-forward in recent games, in place of Robert Lewandowski, his natural position is as a right-winger. He has become the perfect understudy, but he could have the opportunity to show he can also be the perfect starter against opposition as high-profile as Atletico. Although he is not always a guarantee in terms of finishing, he can help deliver an intensity that has been lacking from the team over the past month.
Lopez is the other viable option, the one summer appointment Flick has used the most when Yamal has not been able to play. Although he is not a player who is going to give you depth, because he is a midfielder and not a striker, he is comfortable playing in tight spaces between the lines. He also gets into the opposition box with ease.
Another solution would be to put Raphinha, who has been one of the big surprises of the season, in Yamal’s place and play Dani Olmo as a left-winger. It is an alternative that Flick has tried on occasion, but Olmo’s performance level has dipped in the past few games.
Raphinha, though, seems to be the least realistic solution. Flick does not want to gamble on the last big test of 2024 and will go all out, and the Brazilian has proven to be a guarantee on the left, where Alejandro Balde combines good games with some bad ones. They say that if something works, it is better not to touch it, so it seems most likely that the chosen one in Yamal’s absence will be Lopez or Torres.
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Barcelona’s previous big game was in Dortmund 10 days ago, and Torres proved the hero that night. This would seem to leave the 24-year-old, whom Flick has been testing in training in recent days, in a better position. Although he has not always been the chosen one — and it might be thought that this is because the new manager does not fully trust him for this role — it should also be kept in mind that he was out injured from early October until that Las Palmas game three weeks ago.
Whoever Flick chooses, this game against Atletico will be the final barometer before 2025 arrives and is Barca’s way of staying in front in the title race after what he called a “s*** November”, a run of form that has carried on well into December.
(Top photo: Sebastian Widmann – UEFA via Getty Images)
