The team travelled straight to Barcelona after the game in Bruges, arriving in the early morning. Just hours later, Hansi Flick and the squad were in for a post-match recovery session, which featured the substitutes at the Jan Breydel stadium plus Andreas Christensen, who is now fully back in training. First team player Eric Garcia has a broken nose. He will wear a protective mask and any potential involvement in the upcoming game against Celta de Vigo will be assessed.
Having Ronald Araujo at the heart of Barcelona's defence when the opposition have players with pace to burn is, frankly, suicidal. The Uruguayan once appeared destined to be a real mainstay for this team, however, he remains a senior player that can't even get the basics right. Club captain he may be, but that also means he has to lead by example.
Spanish giants Barcelona needed to come from behind three times to earn a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge in the Champions League, with teenage winger Lamine Yamal back to his best for Hansi Flick's side to help them earn a point in a gripping clash in Belgium. Barca's defence was shredded on multiple occasions on Wednesday by the hosts as Brugge winger Carlos Forbs struck twice and set one up for Nicolo Tresoldi.
Lamine is a genius. I am totally behind him, by his side, supporting him. He is a fantastic lad and a brilliant player. We at Barça are very fortunate to have produced this type of player throughout our history.
We are capable of doing it, in the last few games we have given a very good image and we are good in the league. We play with high pressure and we are going to go as far as we can. I'm sure we're going to see a good game, we have very good weapons in the attacking line to hurt Barça,
There will be plenty of focus as usual on his selection and particularly whether he decides to call up Lamine Yamal who is still suffering some discomfort caused by pubalgia. Barcelona "would prefer" it if Spain did not call up Yamal this summer as they want him to continue to follow a recovery plan they have put in place, according to El Desmarque.
In an interaction with Movistar+, Iniesta talked about Yamal's rollercoaster of a season so far, with the midfield legend notably praising the winger. "It's a life journey. He's only 18 years old, and he has to keep developing, learning, making mistakes, and from there he will continue to grow," he said. Iniesta went on to explain how Yamal is getting criticism for the smallest of things only because he is in the spotlight for his brilliance.
I was in the youth team when I was 12. It was a tough time, the first time I had left home, but Barcelona is a great city, Barça is a huge club, and they treated my family very well. I remember it as a difficult time because being separated from your family at such a young age is never easy, but it made me improve and grow, both as a soccer player and as a person.
Lamine, who by the way, when he found out Barcelona were interested in Rashford, he said 'get him, get him,' Because he used to play with him on the PlayStation because he was so good, so fast. Everybody loves him, a bit quiet as we know, but he's very adapted to it. He's adapted closer to the older guys at Barcelona, but the younger guys admire him because he's been at big clubs.
