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Luis de la Fuente has assured that Lamine Yamal will be in "perfect physical condition" for Sunday's World Cup final despite suffering a "hard knock" during Spain's semifinal win against France.
Yamal entered the tournament managing a hamstring problem that had cut short his club campaign with Barcelona. After steadily building his fitness throughout the longest World Cup ever staged—with his minutes on the pitch increasing across each group match—Spain's teenage sensation has been edging closer to his peak form in the knockout rounds.
It was Yamal's sharpness of mind and movement that left France's Lucas Digne in a tangle, prompting the defender to swing a boot into the winger's midsection and concede the crucial first-half penalty as Spain cruised to a 2–0 win on Tuesday. That was the only foul Yamal earned in Dallas, yet he still endured some rough treatment that left him gingerly limping off the field.
Concerns over a possible absence grew when the recently turned 19-year-old was forced to miss a training session in the days ahead of the final. De la Fuente has since put those worries to rest within the Spanish camp.
"He took a hard knock to a sensitive area—what we call a dead leg," La Roja's manager told reporters on Friday. "We chose to give him a rest yesterday, and today he trained normally. He is in perfect physical condition."
"He's doing well; everyone is doing well right now," De la Fuente added.
Spain's Plan to Unlock the Best Version of Lamine Yamal in World Cup Final
Only the current top scorers at the 2026 World Cup, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, have attempted more shots than Yamal this summer. Yet Spain's elusive dribbler has found the net just once at the tournament—and that came against Saudi Arabia nearly a month ago.
In a World Cup where nearly every major star has delivered, Yamal has struggled to match the extraordinary expectations his remarkable talent has unfairly generated. Sunday's final has already been framed as a direct face-off between one iconic left-footed winger and his natural successor, but De la Fuente's message to Yamal is straightforward.
"Lamine needs to be Lamine," the Basque coach stressed. "Messi is a role model in terms of attitude, behavior and so on, but Lamine has to be himself, and we need to support him."
Without fully setting the tournament alight, Yamal has been quietly impactful. Konrad Laimer tied himself in knots attempting to contain Barcelona's star in the round of 32 clash that Austria convincingly lost. Portugal's Nuno Mendes kept Yamal relatively subdued—as he does with most wingers—before the last-16 tie shifted following his enforced exit. Belgium's Maxim de Cuyper had little answer for Yamal, who arguably delivered his finest display of the tournament against France.
The script writes itself. pic.twitter.com/yoWWvlXUTd
At Barcelona, Yamal uses his right back as a decoy, exploiting the split-second hesitation in defenders who notice Jules Koundé's overlapping runs to cut inside and cause chaos. At international level, Pedro Porro has made a habit of driving infield, leaving Yamal to hold the width while he charges into the box. It's a mutually beneficial dynamic.
Yamal's defensive contributions have largely gone unnoticed publicly, yet are greatly valued by his teammates. The winger has won the ball back as frequently as his right back Porro, while completing the fourth-most tackles of any Spanish player.
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"Perhaps people expect him to score three goals every game—which he's capable of—but he's helping the team enormously on the defensive side," Yamal's teammate Álex Baena enthused. "[Yamal is] contributing a great deal to the game that people might not notice. I think he's having a great tournament."
There's every chance it could get even better on Sunday.