Will Lamine Yamal play against Newcastle United tonight in UCL?

FC Barcelona are getting ready for its Champions League debut against Newcastle United on Thursday, September 18, 2025. However, a serious concern is whether Lamine Yamal will be fit to play. The 17-year-old has been struggling with physical issues since the recent international break, raising serious doubts about his participation in the match.

Will Lamine Yamal Play Against Newcastle?

Lamine Yamal has been ruled out of Barcelona's Champions League opener against Newcastle United on Thursday after failing to recover from a groin injury in time. Yamal, 18, went into the international break last week managing some pain and took painkillers to feature in Spain's World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Turkey. He was subsequently forced to miss Barca's 6-0 La Liga win against Valencia last weekend and has not trained this week.
As a result, he has not been named in the squad that flies to Newcastle on Wednesday. Midfielder Gavi and left-back Alejandro Balde are also missing with injuries, but Frenkie de Jong has been cleared to return to action.

Yamal's injury has been a cause for contention between Barcelona and Spain, with club coach Hansi Flick accusing La Roja of failing to take care of their young players. With Yamal missing, Flick is likely to pick three from four of Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres, and Marcus Rashford to start in attack at St. James' Park this week.

How Has Lamine Yamal Performed in the Champions League for Barcelona?

Lamine Yamal's performance in the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League has been limited but remains promising. So far, he has made just one appearance in the competition this season. Yamal started the season well, scoring two goals and providing two assists in his opening three La Liga matches. He also assisted three goals during his two appearances for Spain last week. Barcelona's manager, Hansi Flick, criticized the amount of playing time Yamal had for the national team during the international break. Specifically, Yamal played 79 minutes in Spain's 3-0 win against Bulgaria on September 4 and 73 minutes in a 6-0 victory over Turkey three days later.

Since making his debut in the 2023–24 season, Yamal has played a total of 23 matches in the Champions League, including 20 starts, logging 1,683 minutes in the competition. Despite his young age, he has already scored five goals and provided five assists, establishing himself as one of the most exciting attacking talents in the tournament. His breakthrough came during the 2024–25 season, when he scored all five of his Champions League goals and added three assists in 13 matches.

Yamal has also set several records, including being the youngest starter in Champions League history at 16 years and 83 days, as well as the youngest player to reach 20 appearances at just 17 years and 270 days. He was also the youngest to both score and assist in a single Champions League match, achieving this against Benfica at 17 years and 241 days. His dribbling success rate stands at nearly 59%, and he has taken a total of 74 shots throughout his Champions League career. After reaching the semifinals last season, where they lost to Inter Milan, Spanish champions Barcelona are aiming for their first Champions League trophy since 2015 this year.