In Barcelona's surprising home defeat to Leganes last weekend, Lamine Yamal was injured and had to leave the field. The moment the team's number 1 young talent grimaced in pain made the Cules very impatient. Finally, they received the bad news that Yamal will have to rest at least from now until the end of the year.
Barcelona confirmed the 17-year-old striker had suffered an ankle injury after undergoing tests on Monday morning. Yamal's injury is a grade 1 ankle ligament injury.
Lamine Yamal suffered a heavy collision in the first half and fell to the ground. Afterwards, he appeared to be in pain and appeared to be signaling for a substitution. However, the 17-year-old star continued to play and could not bear it any longer in the second half, and was replaced in the 75th minute by Gavi.
Lamine Yamal's newly confirmed injury will deal a further blow to Barcelona's ambitions this season. They are currently top of La Liga after 18 rounds with 38 points. However, the Blaugrana are level on points with Atletico Madrid (ranked 2nd). Real Madrid are currently in 3rd place with 27 points. Both Madrid teams have only played 17 matches. This means that if Real and Atletico both win their postponed matches, Barca will be overtaken in the rankings immediately.
The reason Barca are so anxious about Yamal's injury is because their current form is in complete contrast to the time they crushed Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League. In the last 6 matches in La Liga, Barcelona have only won 1 match against Mallorca. They have lost 3 matches against Real Sociedad, Las Palmas and most recently Leganes. In between, they have lost points against Celta Vigo and Real Betis.
This weekend, Hansi Flick's team will face Atletico Madrid in a very important match because if they lose, the Catalan team will lose the top spot in the table.
In these turbulent times, losing Yamal for 3-4 weeks is a huge shock for Barca. The 17-year-old striker has been shining since EURO 2024. Since the beginning of the season, Yamal has played 20 matches, scored 6 goals and had 12 assists. He has also just received the Golden Boy award honoring the best young player of the year.
After the Atletico Madrid game, Barcelona will not play another game until January 4, 2025. That will be a Copa del Rey round of 32 clash with weak opponents Barbastro. They will then face Athletic Bilbao in the Supercopa semi-finals on January 8, 2025. If they overcome Bilbao, Barca will play the final a few days later and return to La Liga against Getafe on January 19, 2025.
In the other bracket of the Supercopa semi-finals, Real Madrid are expected to easily defeat Mallorca. Fans can expect an El Clasico match in this year's Supercopa final.
