Spain boss Luis de la Fuente provides Lamine Yamal fitness update as Barcelona star set to miss Czechia Nations League clash

Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente has said Lamine Yamal will be available for Sunday's Nations League meeting with England, despite being ruled out of Thursday's trip to Czechia with a knee problem.

The 19-year-old reported discomfort in his right knee after Barcelona's 2‑1 win at Atlético Madrid on Sunday (November 8), a game in which he played the full 90 minutes and set up Fermín López's 66th-minute winner.

The RFEF said on Monday that Lamine Yamal would remain in Catalonia rather than joining the squad at Las Rozas, with federation doctors in daily contact with the club's medical staff.

Mikel Oyarzabal misses the same game at the end of a bout of flu, and the federation said both would report to camp in the coming days.

De la Fuente went further in an interview with EFE, saying the discomfort was minor and the forward could have played on Thursday. Speaking to the agency, he said (via Barca Blaugranes):

“It was the right thing to do. He was surely willing to play and if we had had an emergency, we would have decided to start him. But it was not worth taking any risk.”

The problem, he said, dates back to the Champions League win over Aston Villa on November 3, which left “a small inflammation” that stopped the winger from being right. De la Fuente expects Lamine Yamal at Las Rozas late on Thursday, after the game in Prague, or on Friday morning, which would give him two sessions before England.

Víctor Muñoz, the 23-year-old Liverpool winger, was called up on Monday as cover, joining Jorge de Frutos, who had already replaced the injured Ander Barrenetxea in the 27-man squad.

The knee problem Barcelona star Lamine Yamal is nursing

The issue sits in the right knee, and Goal reported that tests on Monday morning found no serious damage. The RFEF has not attached a timeline, so the plan is rest and a fresh assessment when he reaches Madrid.

The load behind it is the talking point. Lamine Yamal has started all 20 of his games for club and country this season, with 17 goals and 13 assists, and logged 281 minutes in the previous international window, 11 over the 270 cap De la Fuente had set.

Spain have 12 points from four group games and are already into the quarter-finals, with Czechia bottom on none. A fit Lamine Yamal against England at the Metropolitano would give De la Fuente his strongest hand for a match expected to decide top spot and home advantage in the second leg of the quarters.