Against Leganes, Lamine Yamal was substituted in the 75th minute. The player felt discomfort, with medical tests after the 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.
Diego Simeone’s side are one of Hansi Flick’s team’s direct rivals in the fight for the 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 match.
Barca are going through a dip in results in La Liga which contrasts with their Champions League form. They have taken only five points from the past 18 available in the league and the dip 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 against Real Betis.
Although Yamal’s absence worries the coach — the team have not won a league game this season without him on the pitch — the coach has several options. The two who seem most likely are Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez.
Yamal suffered the injury in the 1-0 home loss to Leganes last weekend (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
When Yamal was out with an ankle injury in November, Lopez was used, in part because at the time Torres was recovering from injury and only returned on 30 November. Now, ‘the shark’ is in good form — he has scored four goals in the past five games, two of them decisive in the 3-2 win over 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 an opponent as big 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 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 option would be to put Raphinha, who has been one of the big surprises of the season, in place of Yamal 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.
The Brazilian, 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 Raphinha has proven to be a guarantee on the left wing 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 will be Lopez or Torres.
Barcelona’s last big game was in Dortmund, and there the hero was Torres. This would leave the Valencian, whom Flick has been testing in training in recent days, in a better position. Although he has not always been the chosen one — and one might think it is because Flick does not fully trust him for this role — it should also be borne in mind that he was injured until a month and a half ago.
Whoever Flick chooses, Saturday’s game against Atletico will be the final barometer before 2025 arrives and Barca’s way of staying in front in the title race after what he called a “s*** November”, a run of form that has stretched into December.
(Top photo: Sebastian Widmann – UEFA via Getty Images)
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