'We will look at the rules' — Barcelona president aims to unite clubs against Spanish federation after Yamal's injury

Barcelona president fires back after Spanish national team coach's president.

Barcelona president Joao Laporta is the latest to speak in the row between Barcelona and the Spanish national team over the health and protection of their players. 

Barcelona vs Spain 

The Spanish national team's utilisation of Barcelona's youngsters has been heavily criticised in recent times, especially after the ACL injury Gavi suffered, which ruled him out for the length of a season.

With the ascent of Lamine Yamal, his involvement in the La Roja setup has been immediate and voluminous, again, to the chagrin of Blaugrana faithfuls. 

However, Spain's coach, Luis De La Fuente, has fired back at those critics, stating that the national team does not injure players, effectively defecting the management of player minutes to the club sides. 

Lamine Yamal was listed amongst the 60 best young players in the world in 2024.

What Laporta said 

In a recent press appearance, the Barcelona president had the latest word on the topic. During the recently concluded international break, Lamine Yamal had to return to Barcelona after the first of two games due to muscle overload. 

According to Laporta, the RFEF tried to make him play the next game, and Laporta deemed it reckless. He said he would lobby other clubs to press for more agency in determining the availability of their players for international duty. 

“In the case of Lamine, he is a very skilful player, who suffers many injuries. It was reckless for him to stay for the next match and I didn’t like that they tried to convince him to play,” Laporta complained.

“We have made arrangements and we must defend our interests. We took action and they understood our approach and that of the player. Lamine is young and has a lot of personality and he explained the situation he was in. 

“I forgot to mention that Gavi was injured with the national team. If he hadn’t played in the two games, he might not have gotten injured. The good news is that now we have to slow him down. He’s going all out in training.”

“Perhaps we will have to unite the clubs. This rule has to be changed. If the player has the freedom to go or not, they will first look at his physique, without having to put aside the will to go. Having the freedom allows you to avoid it if you are in a situation of overload. 

“The general principle is to go, but there are exceptions for the physical and mental health of the players. Above all to protect the players.”