“He doesn’t need to rest at the moment” – Hansi Flick says Lamine Yamal will start for Barcelona against Getafe

Barcelona’s marathon of matches continues on Wednesday when the La Liga leaders welcome Getafe for their fourth game in 10 days since returning from the international break.

Lamine Yamal has started the previous three and played almost all of the minutes in those games, and Barça fans continue to scream for coach Hansi Flick to give the teenage phenom a rest given his age and workload.

There’s a special ask for a rest in this specific matchup: Getafe are known to be the most physical team in the league, and given how Lamine has been targeted by opposing players since the start of the season there’s a real concern that he could be in for some very rough treatment on Wednesday, which combined with a lack of rest could result in an injury.

But his coach is not listening to all the noise. At least that’s what Flick told the press on Tuesday when asked whether Yamal would be rested against Getafe, citing his coaching staff’s fitness data which shows Lamine is OK to start again on Wednesday.

“We have all the data on the players, he doesn’t need to rest at the moment. We’ll look at it, but I don’t think he needs to rest tomorrow. We have to start well tomorrow and start with a great team. Lamine has been doing incredible this season. We have to continue with this performance.”

Source: Mundo Deportivo

It’s been really difficult to criticize Hansi Flick for anything since becoming Barça manager, but not resting Yamal is a legitimate cause for concern. Maybe he just is one of those freaks of nature who is blessed with great genetics and can handle a heavy workload even at a young age while his body is still developing, or maybe he’s a teenager who doesn’t know how to stop and needs to be protected from himself.

We’ll never know, but we’ll also hate to say “I told you so” if Yamal picks up a hamstring injury at some point soon by playing a game he didn’t really need to. Please rest the kid. Please.