How Lamine Yamal won his race for World Cup fitness to score ‘most important’ goal

Lamine Yamal came, saw and scored in the World Cup — just 10 minutes into his first game as a starter.

The strike made him the eighth-youngest goalscorer in the history of the competition, surpassing Lionel Messi by 14 days. “I think it’s the most important goal I have scored so far,” he told the Spain team’s official social media channels at half-time of what ended up a comfortable 4-0 win against Saudi Arabia.

The Mercedes-Benz stadium had not roared like they did with that goal so far in this tournament. After celebrating with his team-mates, Yamal knelt down and kissed the pitch. He took a moment for himself, prayed for a few seconds and then pointed with his fingers to the Atlanta sky.

There was happiness, but a big sense of relief and accomplishment, too, in that ritual. Those who have been close to Yamal over the last few months were instantly brought back to the end of April, when they feared this dream might have been dashed.

Playing in the World Cup was the biggest target at the end of the 18-year-old’s season — but it was at serious risk when he suffered a hamstring tear on April 22. The injury was sustained in Barcelona’s La Liga home game against Celta Vigo. Yamal felt discomfort in his left thigh early in the match, but he played on, unsure of how serious the problem could be.

Then there was a spasm as he scored from a penalty kick. He threw himself to the floor in agony.

Barcelona’s concerned players flock around a grounded Lamine Yamal after he suffers his hamstring injury in April (Josep Lago/AFP via Getty Images)

Yamal was in serious pain. He left the Camp Nou with his leg wrapped in ice and, a day later, the club booked an appointment for him to undergo an ultrasound to determine the full extent of the injury.

He went with his closest friends and some of his representatives. The worst-case scenario was a hamstring tear with damage to the tendon of the muscle — an injury that would have required surgery and ruled him out of the World Cup.

The doctor relayed his assessment to Yamal and his camp as the scans were taking place. There was a tear, but it was seven centimetres below the hamstring’s upper tendon.

Sources who were present in that room — speaking anonymously as they did not have permission to comment, like others consulted for this article — recalled exhaling in relief when that diagnosis was delivered.

Yamal’s World Cup was not at risk. However, he would still have to follow a meticulous rehabilitation plan not just to recover, but to arrive at the tournament in form.

Less than a week after the injury, one Barca executive bumped into Yamal at the club’s training ground. The teenager was not expected there as he was not allowed to put weight on his leg yet. The executive asked Yamal what the reason was for his visit. He replied that he had come to start working in the gym, despite the fact he could only train the upper half of his body.

At that point, sources close to Barcelona and Yamal’s camp were pessimistic over his chances of returning for the World Cup opener against Cape Verde on June 15. The expectation was that, in a best-case scenario, he would play his first minutes from the bench in the second game against Saudi Arabia.

Yamal had other ideas.

Those around him admit it was difficult to contain his desire to return. A key figure in this process was physiotherapist Fernando Galan, who works with both Barcelona and Spain, and is now in the United States with the national team. Galan is based in Madrid but has a consultancy role at Barca. When Yamal suffered his injury, Galan moved temporarily to Barcelona to monitor each step of his recovery.

He joined Yamal every day he was at the club’s training ground to monitor his recovery. Galan encouraged the forward’s optimism regarding his return, but also pushed him to put in all the required work in the treatment room.

Galan’s watch was combined with regular visits from the Spanish FA’s medical team. On May 18, national team doctors were spotted by local media entering Barcelona’s training facilities to assess Yamal. Sources from the Spanish FA told The Athletic that was not their first visit, and that they would go more than once a month to check on the player’s progress.

Yamal started with light sessions on a football pitch around 15 days after the injury and, as the days went by, he knew his recovery was gathering pace. Those same sources around the Spanish national team were reluctant to put a specific timeframe on his recovery, instead insisting on waiting until they could check on Yamal themselves on a daily basis.

Lamine Yamal was driven by a desire to be involved at the World Cup (Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)

Spain’s tournament preparations started on May 30 at the national team’s base near Madrid.

Barca and Spain clashed over Yamal earlier in the season. Back in September, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick blamed the national team for Yamal suffering a groin injury while away for World Cup qualifiers. He said the player had joined up with the Spain camp suffering from a minor problem, that he did not complete a full training session with the national team, and that he took painkillers to play games against Bulgaria and Turkey. Spain won both matches comfortably.

Back then, Spanish FA sources told The Athletic they had been surprised by Flick’s words, adding that Barcelona had not mentioned Yamal having any problem.

This time, as soon as Yamal completed his first training session in the United States, everybody at Barca was aware that he would feature at some stage against Cape Verde last Monday. That fixture came 54 days after his hamstring injury, with Yamal introduced from the bench in the 70th minute.

Sources familiar with the situation, and within Spain’s national team setup, believe that, aside from Yamal’s hard work and all the medical attention he has received, the genetics of such a young athlete have helped in his recovery process. His team-mates, meanwhile, have highlighted his maturity.

Spain captain Rodri said before their World Cup opener that Yamal had asked him to skip a team dinner so he could stay in the hotel and carry on his treatment. Nico Williams also praised the forward. “I see him very grown up,” he told radio station Cadena SER. “The evolution and change he has had in two years since the Euros is crazy.”

Lamine Yamal has arrived on the biggest stage (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Before Sunday’s Saudi Arabia game, Yamal was the first person aware that he was still not ready to play a full 90 minutes. “The plan was to be able to play half the game and then rest,” he told DAZN after the match. “But above all to help the team. The game went as we wanted. Not like the first game.

“It’s very special,” he added. “I always dreamed about playing in a World Cup. To be able to score on my first start is a dream. The last World Cup I watched at school. So it is really huge to be here now. I’m proud, as is my mother, my family.”

Lamine Yamal is up and running at the World Cup, and his mission is far from complete.