According to Mundo Deportivo, a year ago, Yamal was at the center of a conflict between Barcelona and the Spanish Football Federation. Now, relations have significantly improved, with Flick and Luis de la Fuente expressing mutual admiration. Barcelona and the Federation maintain continuous communication and have therefore arranged a few days of rest for Yamal.
Exactly one year ago, Yamal was at the heart of a confrontation between Barcelona and the Spanish Football Federation. The relationship between the two parties was disastrous at the time. It all began in September 2025 during the first international break when the Spanish Football Federation's medical team administered a muscle injection for his lower back pain after the match against Bulgaria and before the match against Turkey. Barcelona and Flick expressed their dissatisfaction, believing that the player's health was not properly looked after and that he should have been released early. Yamal subsequently missed the club's next four matches.
He returned several weeks later, but just before the next international break, he was absent from an away league match against Sevilla. The official explanation was a recurrence of discomfort in the pubic area. Evidently, he was not called up to the Spain squad. The chaos peaked before the November 2025 international break. Yamal was initially called up by Luis de la Fuente, but Barcelona had performed radiofrequency ablation treatment on the player to alleviate his pubic discomfort, forcing him to be urgently withdrawn from the squad list. According to the Spanish Football Federation's official announcement, the national team's medical staff were not informed before the procedure and publicly expressed surprise and dissatisfaction with what had happened.
Fortunately, a year later, all of that is in the past. No one would have imagined that Flick and Luis de la Fuente would now admire each other, and that communication between Barcelona and the Spanish Football Federation would be constant, with both parties working in unison. It is precisely for this reason that they have now given Yamal a few days off. Hopefully, this management approach will serve as a starting point for reflection on other call-up cases.