Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has slammed a report he was forced to pick Lamine Yamal in the Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain this month, calling it "bulls---."
Yamal, 18, allegedly arrived late for an activation session ahead of the game, with Flick dropping Raphinha and Marcus Rashford already this season, as well as others last year, for committing the same offence.
However, a report claimed that the board intervened, obliging the German coach to pick the teenager when he had decided to start him from the bench.
"I am sorry about the word, but it's totally bulls---," Flick said in a news conference on Friday when asked to clear up what had happened.
"I never, never [would do that]. Also, in this club, with Deco and the club, I really appreciate how they believe in our work.
"We have confidence and they never would ask this. I can say it's bullshit and I have nothing to hide because if someone told this, they're lying."
Yamal's appearance against PSG is the only start he has managed for Barça since August due to a niggling groin injury, which has forced him to miss seven matches for club and country.
He missed the following game, a 4-1 loss to Sevilla, but is back in training and Flick says he's ready for "some minutes" on Saturday when Barça host Girona in LaLiga.
Fermín López is also ready to return, but Barça are without a host of attackers, with Robert Lewandowski, Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres and Raphinha all ruled out.
"We have to find solutions," Flick added. "We have to find players who can start and manage the 90 minutes.
"In the attack we are missing a lot of players, but we have to figure it out. We have to manage. Also there are players maybe from La Masia who will maybe be an option."
After Girona, Barça host Olympiacos in the Champions League before travelling to Real Madrid in the first Clásico of the season on Oct. 26, a game Flick says Raphinha should be back for.
Torres is also expected to be back by then, but Olmo and Lewandowski, along with Gavi and goalkeepers Joan García and Marc-André ter Stegen, are not as close to returning.
Therefore, youngsters Roony Bardghji, Toni Fernández and Dro Fernández could come into Flick's thoughts as Barça look to turn their form around after losing back-to-back games against PSG and Sevilla before the international break.
"We have to make this situation better," Flick said. "It's the attitude, the mentality on the pitch. We are Barça. Our fans in the stadium want to see we are fighting.
"It's not 'OK we were good last season and we won three titles.' Now it's a new season. We have to start now every game with this attitude. We want to fight for every title.
"This season we have to start again. The break is good. It's also a good chance for other players, young players or players who have not played so many minutes."
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Meanwhile, Flick also said he didn't like LaLiga's decision to move Barça's away game at Villarreal to the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Dec. 20.
It means Barça will travel to the United States for a league match at the end of December, return to Barcelona to face Espanyol at the start of January and then fly to Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Supercopa.
"I can understand why players not happy, I am not happy, but at the end it's LaLiga," he said.
"They decide to make this match and we have to play. For me, of course we have a Christmas break, between the [Miami match] and then the first match against Espanyol, and then we fly to Saudi Arabia.
"It's like that. We know the situation and we respect it."