‘Alarm bells’: Lamine Yamal warned over ‘obvious mistakes’ as Barcelona star urged to ‘pick your friends’ carefully

Tennis legend Boris Becker has issued a warning to FC Barcelona and Spain superstar Lamine Yamal over his antics off the pitch.

Yamal finished second in the Ballon d’Or behind Paris Saint-Germain forward Ousmane Dembele and won the Kopa Trophy for the second year in a row this week.

His performances for Barcelona and Spain have been extraordinary, but some of his off-pitch antics have landed the 18-year-old in hot water.

Yamal caused controversy for his 18th birthday celebrations in July, as he was accused of exploiting people with dwarfism, with some reports claiming women had been hired to attend the party based on their height.

Two months after the event, Yamal broke his silence: “I wasn’t mad, I found it funny. They tried to smear it in many ways. A woman said I chose the girls one way or another, and it was all a lie.”

Spoken like a true teenager.

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Yamal has been fired a warning by Tennis legend Boris Becker, who remains the youngest player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title.

The German, who won six Grand Slams in his career, says Yamal reminds him of himself as a teenager.

“Well, it rings alarm bells for me,” Becker told talkSPORT Breakfast.

“Yamal is wonderful, he’s winning everything, he’s the best young player in the world but obviously that reminds me of young Boris Becker at 17.

“So pick your friends, trust your family, build up a network of security that once you finish your football you’re not going to make the obvious mistakes.

“That’s (why) we have to watch this space and if I go back to your show in 10 or 15 years we might talk about Yamal again.”

Yamal has missed Barcelona’s last four games, including the Champions League trip to Newcastle United, due to ‘trouble in the pubic area’.

The La Liga champions confirmed in a club statement: “Lamine Yamal is having trouble in the pubic area that prevented him from training today and means he will play no part in Sunday’s game with Valencia and will not be training with his team-mates until the problem is resolved.

“It means Barça will now be going into their first home game of the season without one of their most important players.”

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Barca head coach Hansi Flick was fuming with the Spanish national team medical staff after he aggravated the injury on international duty.

“Lamine goes to the national team with pain, didn’t train, had painkillers to play, they were three goals ahead in every match, and he played 79 and 73 minutes,” Flick said.

“Between the matches, he didn’t train. This is not taking care of players.

“Spain have the best team in the world, in every position they are unbelievably good. I am really sad about this [situation].”

Flick added: “I never really spoke with [Spain boss Luis De la Fuente]. Maybe my Spanish is not good, his English is not good, so this is a problem.

“Normally, the communication, because we have more players there than just Lamine, could be better.

“I was also on this side as a national team coach, so I know how hard this job sometimes is, but the communication with the clubs was always good.”

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