The good news for FC Barcelona supporters, regarding Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski, is that the pair of stellar forwards won’t be risking injury by playing for their countries this international window. The duo have withdrawn from the Spain and Poland squads, respectively, for this period of FIFA competition.
The bad news is that they’re already injured; at least to some extent. Let’s start with Yamal.
He’s got an ankle sprain, which was suffered in the UEFA Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade in midweek.
Yamal, who has six goals and eight assists this season, missed out on the loss to Real Sociedad yesterday, and is expected to be absent for the next three weeks or so.
As for Lewandowski, he suffered a back problem in the loss yesterday, but the issue doesn’t sound serious at all.
According to the club statement, he’ll miss about 10 days, so that puts him back in contention for Barca’s next match- at Celta Vigo on Nov. 23.
Lewy has 19 goals thus far this season, helping lead the Blaugranes to the top of the La Liga table, by six points; although arch-rivals Real Madrid do have a game in hand on them. They also sit sixth in the 36 team strong UCL standings, just three points behind table topping Liverpool.
In other words, Hansi Flick is off to a great start in Catalonia.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.