Hansi Flick explains why Lamine Yamal played 90 minutes against Athletic Club as Edin Terzic defends Barcelona star

Athletic Club boss Edin Terzic defended Lamine Yamal after Thursday’s La Liga clash with Barcelona at Camp Nou.

Barcelona won the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Raphinha and Fermin Lopez. Terzic was asked about Yamal after the game and feels any criticism of the young star is undeserved.

“He has three weeks of rest and we expect him to come back and score five goals every week; we have to be more careful with our criticism,” he told reporters.

Flick also spoke about Yamal after the game and explained why the teenager played the whole 90 minutes despite coming off a busy summer and an injury at the end of last season.

“I think it was good for Lamine to play 90 minutes, because in circumstances like these we also continue to improve the physical side. That was the idea today,” he explained.

“And of course, you could see at the end that all the players were very tired, but that’s natural. This is football, and we give everything we have.”

Yamal and Barcelona are back in action on Monday night in La Liga against Rayo Vallecano.