Why Is Lamine Yamal No Longer Playing for Spain vs Saudi Arabia at the World Cup?

Spain was beating Saudi Arabia 3-0 at halftime for their seocnd match in the 2026 World Cup. Spain looked far better than in the previous match against Cabo Verde, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

One key difference was having Lamine Yamal start the starting lineup. Yamal scored the opener for Spain in the 10th minute of the match by tapping the ball into the net following a great pass from Mike Oyarzabal.

It was Yamal's first World Cup goal of his career, and apart from that, the FC Barcelona star was one of the best players on the pitch for Spain.

At the start of the second half, fans noticed that Yamal was no longer on the pitch, and he was replaced by Yeremi Pino.

Is Lamine Yamal Injured?

It is not confirmed that Lamine Yamal is injured and was likely substituted off to manage his minutes.

Yamal recently recovered from a hamstring injury and was not expected to play the full 90 minutes against Saudi Arabia.

Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente hinted that Yamal would not play the full match in order for the youngster to avoid an injury.

Ahead of the match against Saudi Arabia, de la Fuente said, "We have to evaluate the situation with Lamine Yamal for our next match vs Saudi Arabia. Surely, something like that [he 'll only play 45 minutes]."

Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This story was originally published June 21, 2026 at 1:19 PM.