Lamine Yamal out for UCL opener vs. Newcastle

Lamine Yamal has been ruled out of Barcelona’s Champions League opener against Newcastle United on Thursday after failing to recover from a groin injury in time.

Yamal, 18, went into the international break last week managing some pain and took painkillers to feature in Spain’s World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Turkey.

He was subsequently forced to miss Barça’s 6-0 LaLiga win against Valencia last weekend and has not trained this week.

As a result, he has not been named in the squad which flies to Newcastle on Wednesday.

“For me, it’s a shame he’s not playing,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said a news conference on Wednesday. “I’m disappointed that we don’t get to see him at his best playing in the game.”

Midfielder Gavi and left-back Alejandro Balde are also missing with injuries, but Frenkie de Jong has been cleared to return to action.

Yamal’s injury has been a cause for contention between Barça and Spain, with club coach Hansi Flick accusing La Roja of failing to take care of their young players.

Yamal had started the season well, scoring two goals and setting up two more in the opening three LaLiga games.

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He also assisted three goals during his two Spain appearances last week.

With Yamal missing, Flick is likely to pick three from four of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford to start in attack at St. James’ Park this week.

“Whoever they play, they’ve got real pace in wide areas, we know that,” Howe added. “They’ve got international players that will challenge us in different ways, so I think structurally our team performance has got to be really strong, we’ve got to defend well in wide areas, so we’re looking forward to that battle.”

After reaching the semifinal last season, where they lost to Inter Milan, Spanish champions Barça are eyeing a first Champions League trophy since 2015 this year.

Information from PA was used in this report.