Karanka brushed aside any speculation suggesting increased tensions between the two bodies, saying communication with the Catalans was “excellent”.
Spain and Luis de la Fuente in shock after Yamal’s exclusion
The Spanish national team and its coach, Luis de la Fuente, suffered a major blow on Tuesday morning with the exclusion of Yamal from the Spanish squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifying matches against Georgia and Turkey on November 15-18. The FC Barcelona superstar underwent invasive radiofrequency therapy to treat his pubalgia. His absence is expected to last between seven and ten days.
The medical intervention undergone by Yamal “surprised” the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), which said in an official statement that “the intervention was carried out without prior notification to the medical staff of the national team, who were only informed of the details by a report received at 10:40 p.m. the previous evening.”
On Tuesday, De la Fuente shared his thoughts and said he was perplexed by the situation. “ There are procedures which are beyond the control of the Federation,” he told RNE. “It’s like that, you have to accept it. I have never experienced such a situation. I don’t think this is normal. This surprised us all. We have no information, we don’t know any details, and what’s more, it’s a health problem, so obviously we’re surprised. »
The director of the Spanish Football Federation confirms that there is no anger following Yamal’s departure.
Karanka, sporting director of the RFEF, downplayed the importance of Yamal’s surprise departure from the Spanish team. He assured that communication between the federation and all clubs was excellent, adding that it was in Yamal’s best interest to focus on his recovery.
“An embarrassment? It’s not my problem anymore, it’s up to the doctors to take care of it,” he said. “I have always said it, again yesterday, the communication with all the clubs was fantastic. I was in contact with Deco until this morning when the decision was made. And this was done for the sake of the boy, so that he would recover as quickly as possible. The better he performs at club level, the better he will be for the national team. The coach was with him last night and this morning, before he was removed from the selection. »
“We were delighted because Lamine was back to his best level; he had an excellent match against Club Brugge and scored in Vigo the other day. We were looking forward to seeing him play again, but he still has some small physical glitches and what we want, both the selection and Barça, is for him to return to being the player who dazzled us not so long ago. »
