{"id":1097,"date":"2025-10-17T14:57:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T06:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2025-10-17T14:57:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T06:57:37","slug":"yamal-set-to-return-as-wounded-barca-start-clasico-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/17\/yamal-set-to-return-as-wounded-barca-start-clasico-countdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Yamal set to return as wounded Barca start Clasico countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Injury-hit Barcelona expect to have Lamine Yamal back fit to face Girona in La Liga on Saturday, in a welcome boost as the Catalans aim to bounce back from a damaging defeat with the Clasico in their sights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hansi Flick’s side were hammered 4-1 by Sevilla before the international break and must regroup before facing Real Madrid on October 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midfielder Pedri Gonzalez said Barca’s performance in Seville was the team’s worst under Flick, and since then Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo have suffered injuries to deepen their plight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However Yamal and Fermin Lopez returned to training this week and are expected to be fit to face Girona, while Raphinha is also nearing a return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teenage star Yamal missed the thrashing by Sevilla and then Spain’s World Cup qualifiers with the recurrence of a groin problem but should feature against Girona in a derby clash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yamal’s expected return is a welcome boost for Barca ahead of a busy period, with a Champions League match against Olympiacos following on Tuesday ahead of the Clasico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan Garcia, Gavi and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are longer-term absentees and Flick’s options remain thin, without much room for rotation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coach was careful not to further reduce the morale of his players after their collapse at Sevilla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s one match and we lost it, and we have to keep going on,” said the coach, praising his team’s second half display after an especially poor first period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Barcelona’s first defeat of the season, leaving them two points behind leaders Real Madrid, but not their first bad performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barca drew 1-1 at Rayo Vallecano in August after which Flick blasted the team and suggested they had got too big for their boots after winning a domestic treble last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ego kills success,” warned the German coach, hoping to refocus his players’ minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seemed to work as even without teenage star Yamal they secured several wins but then after he got hurt again against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, came their heavy defeat at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barca started last season superbly but then collapsed in November and December, allowing Atletico Madrid to overtake them at the top of the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flick will be keen for his team to avoid a similar backslide this season and hosting Girona, 18th, in a derby is a good opportunity for his team to get back to winning ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game will take place at the Olympic stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill, with Barca’s rebuilt Camp Nou home not yet ready to open amid a series of delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m really looking forward to going back to Camp Nou, with all our fans,” said midfielder Frenkie de Jong, after renewing his contract until 2029 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I don’t know the date, but we can’t wait.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Injury-hit Barcelona expect to have Lamine Yamal back fit to face Girona in La Liga on Saturday, in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions\/1099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}