Lamine Yamal and Mikel Oyarzabal Are Back for England

Spain went to Prague without Lamine Yamal and won anyway. The better news came after it. Speaking on Spanish television after the 2-0 win over Czechia on Thursday night, Luis de la Fuente said the 19-year-old is feeling very good, joins the squad on Friday, and — in the words SPORT carried from the coach — is "in perfect condition and ready to play full 90 minutes" against England on Sunday. Mikel Oyarzabal comes back the same day. Five days after a scan found inflammation and fluid in Yamal's right knee, Spain's decider at the Metropolitano has its main attraction back.

The week moved fast. On Sunday at Atlético's stadium, Yamal played the whole of Barcelona's 2-1 win and created Fermín López's winner — his 40th assist in LaLiga, at 19, a record he holds alone. On Monday the federation announced the discomfort and the tests, and the call taken jointly by Spain's and Barcelona's medical staffs: no trip to Prague, treatment at his club instead. The full record of that decision is in the desk's Tuesday story. What changed on Friday is the ending: the treatment week is over, the clearance is public, and the squad that flew back from Prague gets both of its missing forwards at once.

Prague, in the end, did not need him. Álex Baena's penalty and Marc Pubill's stoppage-time finish — both Atlético men, both covered in the desk's match report — made it five wins from five and stretched Spain's unbeaten run in competitive matches to 44. Oyarzabal's absence had a happier explanation than the flu reports that trailed the squad announcement: Reuters reported Friday that he stayed in San Sebastián for the birth of his second child, and De la Fuente confirmed he trains with the group on Friday evening. "One will arrive at midday and the other a little later," the coach said, "but both will be with us tomorrow."

Sunday's game does not need inventing. Spain lead Group A3 on 15 points; England, who beat Croatia 2-1 at Wembley on Thursday, sit on 12. A draw at the Metropolitano (19:45 GMT) tops the group for Spain; England have to win to take it. Both sides are already through to the quarter-finals, so the night is about first place and seeding — and about the stage itself: the same stadium where Yamal felt the knee a week earlier, in front of the crowd whose team he beat there. The fixture sits in the Game Center here: Game Center — Atlético Madrid vs FC Barcelona is the match this story's pictures come from.

England bring their own headline into it. Harry Kane's penalty against Croatia came on the night he won his 126th cap, passing Peter Shilton's England record, and Kane has already scored against Spain in this group, back in September. A fit Yamal against a side that must chase the game is a different problem from the one England prepared for while he was in a treatment room in Barcelona. De la Fuente saying "full 90" matters beyond Sunday, too: this is not a cameo clearance or a bench-and-see. On the coach's own words, Spain plan to have their best player for the whole match.

Barcelona will read that sentence twice. Yamal had started all 20 of his club and country's games this season before Prague — ten league goals, a league-leading eight assists, and a workload Hansi Flick's staff have been managing in public all autumn. The joint medical plan that kept him home was built to protect exactly this: the decider on Sunday, then Villarreal at Camp Nou on November 22, his first club game back. If he plays the 90 De la Fuente promised and walks off whole, the plan worked and the break becomes a footnote. If the knee answers back, Sunday stops being about who tops Group A3.

Madrid are running the same vigil in a different shirt. Kylian Mbappé stayed with France after missing Thursday's 3-1 defeat in Italy with hamstring discomfort, and Zinedine Zidane's post-match line was the mirror of De la Fuente's: they hope he is back for Türkiye on Sunday, "that is the plan and why he has not gone back home — we just decided not to risk it tonight over a slight problem." Aurélien Tchouaméni's state is quieter: released by France on November 10 with right adductor discomfort, back with Real Madrid, and no club timeline published by Friday. Two of LaLiga's three biggest names spent this break in treatment rooms. One of them has been cleared out loud. Sunday will show what the clearance is worth.