How have Barcelona fared without Lamine Yamal this season? | OneFootball

Wednesday night brought a hard-fought and costly 1-0 victory for FC Barcelona against Celta Vigo at the Spotify Camp Nou.

The Blaugrana secured three crucial points in their race for the league title and maintained a nine-point gap over Real Madrid, their closest pursuer, but lost Lamine Yamal to injury.

Initial examinations were not optimistic for the Catalan side, and tests carried out on Thursday confirmed that the La Masia graduate will not wear the Blaugrana shirt again for the remainder of the season.

Hansi Flick’s team must now close out the league that is already well on track without their main star.

Barcelona’s record without Lamine this season

There is no doubt that Lamine has been Barcelona’s best player this season. He has played almost every match, scored 24 goals and provided 18 assists.

That is despite suffering pubic discomfort between late September and early October, which ruled him out of five matches.

Despite his unquestionable importance, the reality is that Flick’s side managed to cope without him, recording four victories, against Newcastle United, Valencia, Getafe and Real Oviedo and only one defeat, against Sevilla.

Lamine Yamal is out for the season. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Since then, the No. 10 has missed only one additional match, due to suspension. That was against Slavia Prague, and Barcelona also won that game away from home (2-4).

And last season?

Barcelona’s numbers without Lamine were slightly worse last season. At that point, he had not yet established himself as the team’s main star, a role he gradually earned through his performances, especially in the Champions League tie against Inter Milan.

In the five matches he missed, all due to injury, the Catalans recorded two wins (against UD Barbastro and Stade Brestois 29), one draw (Celta Vigo) and two defeats (against Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid).

Who will replace Lamine?

In those six matches, and despite Roony Bardghji being the most natural replacement in the squad, the Swedish player was not the one who most frequently occupied the right flank.

Raphinha played as a right winger in three of the six games without Lamine. The other three were shared between Bardghji (2) and Marcus Rashford (1).

With the Brazilian also injured and Rashford needed on the left flank, unless there is a major surprise in the next two matches, Bardghji will have the opportunity to prove that he has the level to be important in Flick’s project.