Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal has addressed rumours surrounding his struggles with pubalgia, an injury that has been described as "very complex" with no obvious permanent cure.
Pubalgia, a condition characterised by chronic pain in the pubic or groin area, is common in sports that require sudden changes in direction or repetitive kicks, such as football.
Lionel Messi has previously spoken about his experiences with the condition. “Pubalgia is complicated," he said. "It is not a problem that can be solved overnight. I feel better now, but I still have not recovered and I still need treatment.”
More recently, Lamine Yamal has suffered from a 'problem in his pubic area', which has seen him miss several games for Barcelona this season.
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Spanish publication SPORT suggest Yamal's fitness issues have been caused by pubalgia and that he is not at 100 per cent, although the teenager played down talk as he addressed pubalgia for the first time publicly on Wednesday.
Speaking after Barcelona's Champions League clash against Club Brugge, Yamal touched on what has been said about him recently.
"There's a lot of talk about my pubalgia and that I'm sad. It's all lies," he said, as per AS. "I've always been happy. I was focused on my own thing, on getting back to work and getting back to playing at this level, which is how I enjoy it. I have to keep doing my job.”
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick recently spoke about Yamal's fitness amid concerns about ongoing groin issues.
"Lamine is good," he said ahead of their win over Elche last week. "I just spoke with him. He's doing good. Of course he has some days where he maybe feels some pain, but he really works hard; he improves a lot about these things."
Flick added: "I think he's on a good evolution, so this is what we can say."
Medical professional explains how pubalgia affects performance
Sports traumatologist Dr Pedro Luis Ripoll recently explained how the injury will impact on-field performances, with the issue severely restricting movement and shooting ability,
"It is an injury that is frankly difficult to treat," he told El Larguero while speaking about Yamal's injury. "It's characterised by pain that reduces the player's ability to move and shoot by almost 50%, which is exactly what we saw in El Clasico."
He added: "It’s a disabling pain that allows the player to participate in matches but keeps him from his best level and significantly diminishes his performance.”
Lluis Puig, a physiotherapist who worked at Barcelona between 2000 and 2008, also gave an insight into the condition.
"First of all we must say that pubalgia is not a muscle injury, but rather an alteration in the pubic area, where different muscles converge," he said.
"We have to work on different levels, and we can't say that it's an injury that will be gone in a month. No, we'll have to live with it, and we'll have to do preventative and compensatory work to give him the assurances to be able to play at the highest level."
Topics: Barcelona, Lamine Yamal, Champions League
Jack Kenmare