Barcelona. Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal, who was disappointed after Harry Kane won the Ballon d’Or award, coped well, coach Hansi Flick said on Friday.
The 19-year-old winger Yamal, who won the La Liga title with the Catalan club Barcelona and also lifted the World Cup title from Spain, was third in the voting for the Ballon d’Or awarded to the best player in the world on Monday. He is behind England’s Kane and France’s Kylian Mbappe.
“Harry Kane deserved this award,” said coach Flick before Barcelona, which is at the top of La Liga, played against Alaves at home. But you already know what I think about Lamin. He is a player of the level to win this award.
He added, ‘I am very proud of Lamin. He has handled the disappointment well and is fully focused on training. This is the right way to respond. His mentality is very good for the team.
Against Alaves on Saturday, Yamal has an opportunity to put the disappointment of not winning the Ballon d’Or behind him. After losing the last two important games, Barcelona will be aiming to return home.
After winning the first 11 matches in a row in all competitions, Barcelona was in excellent form. However, after reaching the field of Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the Champions League last Tuesday, the performance of the team became weak. Barcelona lost 4-2 in that match.
A few days after that, Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 at home in La Liga, inspired by Kylian Mbappé’s excellent performance. Flick said, “The most important aspect of Saturday’s game is to win.” The team is playing well and we are confident in our ability. I have seen that the training sessions are going well and the players are in a positive mood. We have to show the same performance on the field.
Alaves is a team that knows how to play defensively well. But, we are Barcelona and we want to show our best performance,” he added. Before the match against Alaves, Barcelona is at the top of La Liga. 2 points ahead of the second place team. Then Barcelona will compete with Atletico Madrid.
Although admitting that he does not like losing, German coach Flick said that this season has been like a long journey. He said, “Whether to win the title or not will be decided at the end of the season.” We have to face the situation. We could have won, but we have to accept the defeat and learn from it.” AFP