Barcelona duo visibly frustrated after being substituted against Rayo Vallecano – Report | OneFootball

It is very obvious in football that the best players in the sport never want to miss even a single minute in a football match. Thus, the manager is always forced into making a difficult decision when he chooses to take him off.

Barcelona got the result they wanted against Rayo Vallecano last weekend, but not every reaction on the afternoon was calm. Two players in particular, Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez, made it obvious that they were not happy with being taken off by Hansi Flick during the second half.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Fermin was the first to show his frustration. The midfielder was replaced by Dani Olmo in the 61st minute, and although he applauded the crowd on his way off and shook hands with both Olmo and Flick, his anger quickly became clear once he reached the touchline.

He kicked a cooler kept by the staff on the sideline, a reaction linked both to the substitution itself and to his own disappointment with how he had played. Flick was later asked about that reaction and did not sound especially concerned. His response was direct:

Lamine Yamal, meanwhile, was no happier when his turn came. He stayed on 21 minutes longer than Fermin before being replaced by Marcus Rashford in the 82nd minute but he also reacted badly when the substitution happened.

Cameras showed him avoiding eye contact with Flick as he came off, even while still slapping his coach’s hand, and then gesturing toward him several times on the way back to the bench. The report adds that Lamine then vented to assistant coach Arnau Blanco, saying:

“Always the same. This is crazy. It is crazy. Only me, always me.”

None of this is necessarily disastrous. In fact, there is something understandable about attackers and attacking midfielders hating the idea of being taken off, especially in a tight game they still feel involved in. That edge is often part of what makes them so useful in the first place.

Still, when Flick makes decisions, he needs to take the emotion away, and on that night, the team needed the fresh legs of Olmo and Rashford. Ultimately, its the manager’s call and it’s better for the players to accept, rather than resist it.