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Lamine Yamal was named on the bench for Barcelona’s La Liga meeting with Sevilla on Sunday after Hansi Flick rotated his side ahead of the Champions League second leg against Newcastle United. The Barcelona winger, normally a fixed part of the starting lineup when fit, was left out of the XI as Flick also handed Xavi Espart a top-flight debut.
The decision reflects both workload management and a broader fitness concern that has hovered around Yamal for much of the season.
Flick acts on his own warning before Newcastle return
Barcelona’s 1-1 draw away to Newcastle United in midweek has shaped much of Flick’s thinking for this match.
With the return leg still to come at Camp Nou, the manager chose to protect several players rather than push them through another start in quick succession. That approach had already been signposted in Sportive News’ earlier Barcelona-Sevilla preview, which noted that Yamal was among the players likely to be rested because of fatigue and illness concerns.
Yamal’s absence from the lineup is therefore not an isolated selection call. It sits within a wider pattern of rotation by Flick, who also left Fermín López on the bench and reshaped the side around Dani Olmo and Roony Bardghji.
The groin issue has never fully disappeared
There is also a more specific football reason behind the decision.
According to the source material, Yamal’s groin problem has remained a recurring issue this season. Earlier in the campaign, after taking pain-killing injections to start both September matches for Spain, he missed four straight club games and was only fit enough for a substitute appearance against Real Sociedad. Even then, he made an immediate impact by creating Robert Lewandowski’s winner.
That context matters now.
Yamal has been in strong form in recent weeks, but Barcelona are in a stretch of the season where short recovery windows can quickly turn a manageable issue into a more serious absence. Flick already spoke after the Newcastle draw about having “limited options,” which makes protecting one of his most decisive attackers even more understandable.
Espart and Bardghji are the clearest selection clues
The changes around Yamal also say something about where Barcelona stand heading into the closing months of the season.
Bardghji was chosen to start on the right wing in Yamal’s place, while Xavi Espart came in for his La Liga debut at right-back. Espart had already made his senior debut in the closing stages against Newcastle, and Flick’s willingness to trust him from the start against Sevilla shows how thin parts of the squad have become.
This was not only about resting one player. It was about spreading minutes across a group that is being asked to compete in both La Liga and the Champions League at once.
Rashford’s role becomes harder to ignore
Yamal’s absence also sharpened the conversation around Marcus Rashford.
The source material makes it clear that when everyone is available, Rashford is not currently first choice in Barcelona’s preferred attacking setup. Earlier in the season, Flick praised the Manchester United loanee after a decisive display against Newcastle, but recent team selections suggest the pecking order has shifted.
Instead of moving Rashford directly into Yamal’s slot, Flick again turned to Bardghji. That matters because it suggests Yamal’s rest did not automatically create a vacancy for Rashford in the manager’s ideal structure.
For now, Yamal remains the reference point on that side of the attack whenever Barcelona feel comfortable using him from the start.
Bigger picture before kickoff
This decision is about preservation as much as selection.
Barcelona are leading the title race, but they are also carrying injuries and entering a decisive European week. Flick has opted to manage Yamal carefully rather than risk overextending a teenager who remains one of the club’s most important attacking players.
That does not reduce his importance. If anything, it underlines it.
By leaving Yamal on the bench rather than out of the squad entirely, Flick has kept one of his most dangerous options available if the game turns or if Barcelona need control late on. For Sevilla, that means the problem may simply have been delayed rather than removed.