‘You have to take it’… Danish defender admits his tackles on Lamine Yamal were on purpose | OneFootball

Two FC Barcelona players, Lamine Yamal and Pedri, featured in last night’s match between Spain and Denmark in the UEFA Nations League and helped their team get a 1-0 victory.

One of these players, Yamal, remained in the headlines following this match, not only for his contributions on the pitch but also because of the several hard tackles that he suffered throughout the match.

The youngster was seen limping when he left the stadium, and his participation in the upcoming game against Serbia is in doubt for now. But it is not only the Spanish national team that is concerned with this situation, as Barcelona are also worried as they have a crucial week coming in a matter of days.

Last night, it was the Leicester City defender Victor Kristiansen who was given the duty of stopping Yamal, and he received a yellow card in the 85th minute after having already kicked the young winger several times.

As Mundo Deportivo has reported, the defender talked to the media after the game and admitted that his kicks to Yamal were on purpose.

Talking to the Danish outlet Ekstra Bladet, Kristiansen commented: “It’s simply about saying, ‘Hey, I’m in the fight too, I’m not afraid of you’… If there’s a chance to have a good duel, one that might ‘hurt a little,’ you have to take it.”

Further commenting on Yamal and his strategy, the defender said: “It’s always difficult to define criteria for success when you’re up against a skillful winger because you can win all the duels for 89 minutes, and then he might score at the end, and it does not matter.”

“He’s a skillful player; he’s really good at such a young age. He will be one of the best players for many years.”

As was the case in the match between Barcelona and Villarreal, in which Yamal suffered two quite harsh tackles in the final few minutes of the game, the fouls he suffered in this game were punished only with a yellow card.

Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images

It is clear that referees need to deal with this matter in a more forceful way, so that such a budding talent is not nipped in its early career, especially as Lamine Yamal is still not as physically developed a player at 17 years of age.