Real Madrid center back Dean Huijsen came to the defense of Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal amid accusations from the Spain national team camp that they had been “betrayed” by the Catalan club over the teenager’s international involvement.
Spain’s national team doctors were thought to be eager to keep Yamal in November’s squad despite lingering injury concerns, but La Roja manager Luis de la Fuente allowed the Barcelona star to withdraw from international duty to avoid further conflict.
Yamal’s fitness has been the cause of a rift between the RFEF—Spanish soccer’s governing body—and Barcelona after he sustained a persistent groin injury during the September international break. The Catalan club accused Spain of mismanaging the 18-year-old’s injury issues after he played twice in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers despite receiving pain-killing injections.
The Barça ace sat out October’s internationals, but was once again called up by La Roja for the current November period. However, with his fitness issues ongoing, he withdrew from the Spain squad on Monday.
Spain’s medical staff have “felt betrayed” by Barça following the handling of the Yamal feud, and were “so angry” that they recommended the teenager stay with the national team as he was potentially able to play Spain’s second November match against Türkiye next Tuesday, according to .
The topic of Yamal was unsurprisingly lumbered upon Huijsen who batted away the rancor. “Lamine is a normal kid, he’s 18 years old. Sometimes things get blown out of proportion,” the sage 20-year-old told .
