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Flick downplays Yamal’s reaction to late substitution in Barcelona’s 2-1 win
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona coach Hansi Flick downplayed Lamine Yamal’s reaction to being substituted late in the team’s 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Yamal was replaced by Roony Bardghji in the 89th minute of the league-phase game. He walked off with a serious expression and appeared to be complaining to himself. He also didn’t look happy after getting back to the bench.
“We changed Lamine with a few minutes to go because he was booked and it was late,” Flick said. “If he was a bit annoyed, then I fully understand and I like it. I was a player too. It’s fully acceptable, not a problem.”
Yamal was shown a yellow card in the 56th minute for a foul and will miss the team’s next Champions League match.
His cross led to Jules Koundé’s second goal in the 53rd to give Barcelona the come-from-behind victory after the visitors had gone ahead in the 21st. Koundé also scored in the 50th.
The 18-year-old Yamal has produced more goal involvements — assists and goals — than any other player aged under 19 in Champions League history from group stage or league phase to final, according to UEFA. He has 14 — seven goals and seven assists. That is one more than Kylian Mbappé’s previous record of 13 — 10 goals and three assists.
“It’s great to have Jules scoring … his talent and his mentality are so important,” Flick said.
Koundé said it was “fun” to be able to make many forays into the attack on Tuesday.
“My first job is to defend well so I have to keep a balance,” he said. “And there are games when we play against a back five — today Frankfurt were very deep, so you have to attack the spaces in behind, which is what I tried to do. I had success with those two goals.”
It was the fifth consecutive match in which Barcelona conceded first. It rallied to victories in its last four games.
The victory moved Barcelona to 14th place, two points from the eighth spot in the competition’s league phase.
Flick said he was “really happy how we come back,” but added “sometimes it would also be good to start well and score the first goal. It is what it is.””
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