Barcelona coach Hansi Flick is known to be one of the strictest coaches, and he isn’t afraid to exclude a player, regardless of their value, from the Blaugrana’s matches if they violate instructions, especially if they are late for training sessions.
Flick previously excluded Jules Kounde, Hector Fort, and Iñaki Peña from starting Barcelona matches more than once last season for being late for technical sessions. He did the same thing this season with Rafinha.
However, this strictness was halted before the Paris Saint-Germain match, with direct intervention from Barcelona’s management, allowing Yamal to participate against PSG, according to Cadena Ser.
Deco intervened to allow Yamal to play against Paris Saint-Germain
According to the latest report, Yamal was late for Barcelona’s final warm-up session before the Paris Saint-Germain match, and Flick decided to treat him like the rest of the players and exclude him from the starting lineup. He informed him of this decision.
The news reached Alejandro Echevarría, assistant to president Joan Laporta, who in turn spoke with sporting director Deco to intervene and prevent this from happening.
Indeed, Deco contacted Flick and pressured him to start Yamal, which ultimately happened. According to the report, the coach considered this an infringement on his authority and an undermining of his control over the team.
Those close to the German coach confirm that he was deeply upset by this interference, to the point of demanding that the management fully respect his authority. However, the club downplayed the incident, with officials insisting that nothing had happened, while others insisted that the issue would be resolved without repercussions.
The Truth About Barcelona and Flick’s Disagreement Over Yamal
Journalist close to Barcelona, José Álvarez, confirmed that the Cadena Ser report was baseless and that Flick was deeply upset by the publication of false information that constitutes an insult to his dignity and professionalism as a coach.
According to Alvarez, if something similar had happened, Flick would have resigned as Barcelona coach at the same time. The German’s strict personality does not allow for any kind of interference or the imposition of any player, regardless of their technical value.
Within Joan Laporta’s administration, there is a belief that the spread of these rumors has a political purpose, with the club elections approaching, and that certain parties are trying to destabilize Barcelona’s sporting scene to achieve personal or electoral goals.
