FC Barcelona made good progress offensively against Club Brugge, showing the resilience to score three goals despite trailing as many times in the game.
On the other hand, defensively they were all over the place, which is the primary reason they ended up conceding three goals on the counter to a pacy Brugge attack.
The silver lining was the display from Lamine Yamal. The Spanish teenager has not been at his fluent best in recent weeks, but last night was a step in the right direction.
Everyone is aware that Lamine is suffering from discomfort stemming from his pubalgia injury, and Hansi Flick has reiterated that managing the discomfort is key to handling the 18-year-old in the coming weeks.
Hansi Flick praised Lamine Yamal for his performance against Brugge, but preferred to exercise caution and said they will have to take it week by week. As quoted by Mundo Deportivo, he said:
“I’m happy he’s back at this level, but we don’t know how he’ll be next Sunday. The important thing is that he manages this situation, because it’s not easy. He has to be very mindful of how he trains and the treatments. If he handles it well, we hope the pain will go away. It’s not easy.”
Lamine, when he plays at his best as he did last night, is a joy to watch. One only wishes that his discomfort did not keep returning during important games.
It remains to be seen how things play out for Lamine in the coming weeks. Ideally, it would do the world of good if Spain chose to rest him during the November international break, but we will have to wait and see how things play out.
