Newcastle United supporters are not going to be graced with Lamine Yamal’s presence on Thursday night.
The Barcelona superstar is set to miss Thursday night’s Champions League, in what is a severe blow for Hansi Flick.
Yamal has a groin injury, which is set to rule him out of the game against Newcastle United. While the La Liga giants still go into the match as favourites, they are going to be missing one of their most dangerous players.
The Yamal news can be looked at in two different ways by Toon fans. On the one hand, they are missing out on the opportunity to see an elite footballer in the flesh. On the other, Newcastle United have the luxury of not facing a full-strength Barcelona side.
Newcastle United fans happy to play against Barcelona without Lamine Yamal
For a lot of Newcastle United supporters on X, the latter is more important.
One Newcastle supporter posted: “Plenty of time in the future to see Tino mark him out of the game for 90 minutes, but this is good news.”
“Not fussed about seeing Yamal on Thursday, happier that one of their best players is not playing,” added this Toon fan.
“Don’t think that makes any difference to be honest there are plenty of top players in the team,” wrote another Newcastle United supporter.
This member of the Toon Army commented: “Doesn’t want to face BDB [Big Dan Burn].”
Another fan posted on X: “Good news, I’m sure, for NUFC. However, it would’ve been good to see him live and how our full back(s) would’ve coped with his undoubted talent. Maybe we’ll see him live against NUFC in either SF or Final of the Champions League!!”
Newcastle United are here to compete as Champions League returns
The Champions League gives you the opportunity to come up against the best players. If this game was 10 years ago, Lionel Messi would be lining up for Barcelona.
Yamal could be on a similar path when it comes to his career, so it is understandable if there is some disappointment over his absence on Thursday night.
However, Newcastle United are not just in the Champions League for the experience. They have experienced it already, and now it is about competing.
The new Champions League format should help Eddie Howe’s side, as they attempt to advance to the next stage of the competition. Beating Barcelona would be the perfect start, and that is certainly more achievable if Yamal is not playing.
If Newcastle beat Barcelona on Thursday night, it will be a moment that will last a lifetime. It would be a result that gets spoken about for years and years. And when fans do reminisce, there will be no caveat of ‘well, Yamal wasn’t playing’.
This is Barcelona, one of the greatest clubs in world football. They have plenty of ways they can hurt Newcastle without Yamal, and it will certainly be a historic victory if Howe’s side can get the job done.
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