Flick: ”My way of reacting was to protect Lamine”

During the press conference prior to the match, Flick had to address both the setback of Lamine Yamal and the controversy generated with the Spanish national team. The German coach explained that this Saturday ”Lamine felt good,” although he pointed out that ”it´s not about this; as long as there were doubts about his best level, he wouldn´t have started against PSG. We have talked, and he is much better than he was, but he is not completely well.” Flick avoided entering into new criticisms of Luis de la Fuente and reminded that ”this situation already occurred after the last international break; I want to protect my player, support him, and that´s what it´s about. It´s water under the bridge; for me, it´s a thing of the past; I don´t think negatively about the situation; that happens in the world of football; I´ve seen it from the other side; it´s not easy for everyone; I must protect the player; maybe I said something with an unusual force, but we must always manage the situation this way.”

Protection and management of minutes

The coach also revealed the conversation held with the young forward, explaining that ”we told him how we can support you; everyone knows about his quality, and it´s my responsibility to give him the appropriate load of minutes.” Regarding his performance, Flick detailed that he will evaluate the player´s evolution ”with the ball and without the ball, when defending; sometimes it happens, if they are not at a hundred percent, they focus on the strengths; with the ball, he is incredible, but we also need the other part, which is defending. Lamine is very intelligent, smart; he knows how to steal the ball, and at a hundred percent, he can do it; manage the minutes well; if he can´t manage it, he will play less than 90 minutes; we will manage it.” The coach was cautious when talking about recovery timelines, emphasizing that ”this type of injury is not easy; it´s a muscle injury that we know well, and we don´t know if he will be out for two, three, or four weeks. I don´t know if he will be ready for the clásico; we have to wait and manage the load of minutes; he trains with the recovery team, and in the coming weeks, he will be with it. Step by step.”

No regrets, but looking forward

Regarding his previous words towards Luis de la Fuente, Flick stated that ”I don´t regret it; I wanted to protect my players; it was a way of saying stop; for me, it was the right way to react, but it´s water under the bridge; now we must focus on what comes next. It can be a story what I say or what de la Fuente says, but what we want is to think about the next.” The German insisted on the need to coordinate efforts between clubs and national teams to avoid overloading the players. ”Fatigue is part of the life of footballers; they play with the national teams; it must be managed among everyone, including the federations. It´s important for any player to go with the national team; it´s very good that it is so; we manage it with the load in training; we do everything possible,” he emphasized.

A competitive Sevilla

About the opponent this weekend, Flick highlighted that ”it´s a rival we know very well; they play aggressively, have their own style, and a good fan base; it will be difficult to get the three points.”

The Bernal case and the call-up to the U-21

On the other hand, the German coach expressed his displeasure with the call-up of Marc Bernal to the U-21 national team by David Gordo. Spain will play a friendly against Norway on September 10 in Guadalajara and will subsequently face Finland on the 14th in Castellón, in a qualifying match for the 2027 European Championship. After the statements of the Barça coach, the RFEF decided to uncall Bernal and call up Fer López, a player from Wolverhampton, in his place. Flick was clear about it: ”Bernal´s situation is difficult; he is not quite well to play many minutes; I believe that as of today, he is not ready to play many matches; he is coming off a serious injury.”