Spain boss denies Lamine Yamal gets 'special privileges'

Spain boss denies Lamine Yamal gets 'special privileges'

Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente denies claims Lamine Yamal received "special privileges" after being allowed to join the national team later than the rest of the squad.

Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente has denied claims Lamine Yamal received "special privileges" after being allowed to join the national team later than the rest of the squad.

The 19-year-old did not travel with Spain for Thursday's Nations League match against the Czech Republic because of discomfort and inflammation in his right knee following Barcelona's La Liga victory over Atletico Madrid, remaining in Barcelona to work with the club's medical staff.

"I decided that, to avoid the trip, it would be better for him to stay at home and continue treatment with his club," De la Fuente said on Wednesday.

"Lamine [Yamal] doesn't have any special privileges. We would have done this for any other player.

"What hurts me most is the lying, the lack of rigour, the absence of truthfulness and the fabrication. I can't stand people who try to deceive you and lie."

Real Sociedad captain Mikel Oyarzabal is also expected to join up with the squad late while recovering from flu and having just welcome his second child.

Reports in Spanish media suggested Lamine Yamal had been given special treatment because he was not required to report to the national team immediately.

I have experienced racism a thousand times - Lamine Yamal

In brief

Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente has denied claims Lamine Yamal received "special privileges" after being allowed to join the national team later than the rest of the squad. "Lamine [Yamal] doesn't have any special privileges. Reports in Spanish media suggested Lamine Yamal had been given special treatment because he was not required to report to the national team immediately. I have experienced racism a thousand times - Lamine Yamal

This is the opening of the story, shared with credit to BBC Sport. The rest of the report — with every detail — continues on the publisher’s website.

Continue reading at BBC Sport ↗

Cookie settings

Choose which cookies we may use. You can change this at any time from Cookie settings in the footer. Details of each cookie are in the Cookie Policy.

Strictly necessary

Needed for sign-in, security, payments and remembering these choices. Always on.

Preferences

Remember settings such as dark mode.

Analytics & performance

Help us count visits, understand which pages, devices and countries our readers use, and measure how well the site performs – anonymous and aggregated.

Advertising & marketing

Lets advertising partners show and personalise adverts, measure impressions, clicks and visits, prevent ad fraud and pay us – this is how the free site is funded.

🔔 News notifications

Get headlines from NewsHub on this device — even when the site is closed.

You can switch this off at any time. Works on Android, Windows, Mac and Linux browsers; on iPhone/iPad add the site to your Home Screen first.