BARCELONA: Barcelona moved a step closer to winning La Liga with a tight 1-0 victory over Celta Vigo on Wednesday but lost their goalscorer Lam­ine Yamal for the rest of the season to hamstring injury.

The teenage Spain star won and converted a penalty to clinch a narrow triumph but hurt himself as he took it and was replaced before half-time.

“The tests carried out have confirmed that first-team player Lamine Yamal has a hamstring injury in his left leg (biceps femoris muscle),” Barcelona posted on X.

“The player will follow a conservative treatment plan. Yamal will miss the remainder of the season, and he is expected to be available for the World Cup.”

Spain will kick off their World Cup campaign with a Group ‘H’ game against Cape Verde on June 15.

Joao Cancelo also went off injured for a Barca team who moved nine points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table with six matches remaining, including a Clasico on May 10.

Rivals Real are dealing with injuries of their as the Los Blancos announced on Thursday that Eder Militao and Arda Guler are ruled out for the rest of the season.

Brazilian defender Militao has a left thigh injury, while Turkish attacking midfielder Guler is sidelined with a right thigh problem, the club said.

Hansi Flick’s side, playing for the first time since their Champions League quarter-final elimination by Atletico Madrid last week, lacked their usual attacking spark.

Barca goalkeeper Joan Garcia saved well from Pablo Duran and Ferran Jutgla in the opening exchanges at Camp Nou.

With little between the teams it came down to Yamal’s fleet footwork to help Barca open the door.

The forward skipped into the box, exchanging passes with Dani Olmo, and was felled by Yoel Lago as he tried to evade the Celta defender. Yamal beat Ionut Radu with a low penalty, with the goalkeeper diving the right way.

However he pulled up hurt immediately, calling for treatment and lying on the turf as his team-mates came over to celebrate.

The match was delayed for over 15 minutes because of a medical incident in the stands at the same time, and when Celta kicked off again Yamal had been replaced by Roony Bardghji.Defeat left Celta seventh and still hoping to qualify for European football next season.

Meanwhile, Atletico fell to a 3-2 defeat at lowly Elche, their seventh loss in their last eight matches across all competitions.

The Champions League semi-finalists, who host Arsenal next Wednesday in Europe, could not bounce back from their Copa del Rey final defeat on penalties by Real Sociedad last weekend to build morale.

Diego Simeone’s side are comfortable in fourth in La Liga and the coach played mostly a reserve side to rest his star names after the draining cup final.

Nicolas Gonzalez struck twice for the visitors but Elche prevailed with a brace from Andre Silva and a goal from David Affengruber, boosting their survival hopes. The win pushed Elche to provisionally 15th, two points above the drop zone.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2026