Barcelona's Yamal out 2-3 weeks with groin recurrence

Barcelona confirmed on Friday that winger Lamine Yamal has suffered a recurrence of a groin problem and will be sidelined for two to three weeks, ruling him out of Sunday’s La Liga trip to Sevilla and Spain’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Bulgaria. The 18 year old, who recently won the Kopa Trophy and finished second in Ballon d’Or voting, had returned from an earlier layoff this month only to reappear limping after Wednesday’s 2-1 Champions League loss to Paris Saint Germain.

Yamal first experienced pubic area discomfort during September international duty with Spain and missed four Barcelona matches while recovering. He was cleared to return for the club’s win over Real Sociedad and then played the full 90 minutes against PSG before the problem recurred. Barcelona said the discomfort reappeared after the PSG match and set the recovery estimate at two to three weeks, a timeline that will also keep him out of Spain’s fixtures on October 11 and 14.

The setback has revived tensions between Barcelona and the Spanish national team that emerged after the initial injury. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick publicly criticized Spain for using Yamal in two September...