Barcelona are about to find out how dependent they are on Lamine Yamal
The teenager has been ruled out for the rest of the club’s season.
Lamine Yamal prepares to take a penalty kick during the match between FC Barcelona and Real Club Celta de Vigo, corresponding to week 33 of LaLiga EA Sports, at the Spotify Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, on April 22, 2026. (Photo by Joan Valls/Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images Hansi Flick must be incredibly thankful for that nine-point lead at the top of the table. Lamine Yamal is largely the reason why the Blaugrana have been able to run away with La Liga, and his goal against Celta Vigo was the reason that they continue to maintain it.
Credit to the whole team for grinding out the win in the second half . Otherwise, had points been dropped, pressure would be building for Barcelona with Lamine out for the rest of the season, and Raphinha’s return date still not confirmed. If one lesson is to be learned this season, it’s that the best teams in Europe have depth.
If you want to compete for trophies in all competitions, you can’t run your players into the ground. Eventually, nature will catch up. The absence of Raphinha contributed greatly to Barca’s elimination in Europe.
The absence of Lamine will make things more interesting than they need to be down the stretch in La Liga. We can have the debate about whether to blame Flick for not rotating more, Joan Laporta for not backing his manager more in the market, or we can just chalk it up to bad luck and say everyone is doing the best they can within the challenging waters they’re navigating. To level set though, if we want to talk realistic expectations for next season, running back the same playbook is a recipe for the same results at best, but not for growth.