The obvious question to ask after watching Pau Cubarsi become the youngest defender to start a Champions League quarter-final, at 17 years and 79 days old, and play with remarkable maturity on a hugely rewarding evening for Barcelona in Paris, is: what were you doing at that age?
In this writer’s case (and we’re going back to 1993) the answer is feeling a sense of trepidation about making my debut for Swindon Town’s reserves against Ipswich Town in the Neville Ovenden Football Combination Division One and to look at Paul. Goddard’s name (that’s one for our older readers) on the opposing team’s sheet and we fear the worst.
Cubarsi, it is safe to say, does not suffer from any inferiority complex – and for good reason. The Spaniard, who joined Barcelona in 2018 at the age of 11, is a truly exceptional talent.
Victor Osimhen last month. Kylian Mbappé this month. Cubarsi has faced some of the best strikers in the world and felt completely comfortable, which is quite something considering he only made his first team debut in January.
Watching Cubarsi play his part in a thrilling 3-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday was a joy, and it’s easy to understand why Xavi said what he did after Barcelona knocked out Napoli in the previous round. “When Pau Cubarsi has the ball at his feet, my heart rate does not accelerate,” explained the Barcelona coach.
There is a wonderful calmness about Cubarsi in possession that speaks volumes about his confidence and temperament as well as his abilities. He plays like he already knows he belongs at this level, which must be a wonderful feeling when you’re running around in the Barcelona shirt in the Champions League shortly after turning 17.
Except Cubarsi does much more than run around. By halftime against PSG, he had completed more passes than any other Barcelona player – and not just ‘safe’ passes.
There were 10 minutes on the clock when he opened his body and cut a diagonal to Jules Kounde, Barcelona’s right-back, on the other side of the pitch.
It looked like he was going to repeat this pass later in the half, when Kounde raised his left hand, demanding the ball, and Cubarsi got in shape to change play again (see below). Instead, Cubarsi played a brilliantly disguised pass between the lines that took out six PSG players and initiated the move that led to the opening goal.
Robert Lewandowski got up, turned around and fed Lamine Yamal, 16, who was wide on the right (this is a good time to point out that Lewandowski, 35, is older than Cubarsi and Yamal combined) .
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma could only push Yamal’s teasing cross into Raphinha’s path, and the Brazilian emphatically converted the first of his two goals.
Raphinha gives Barcelona the lead in Paris 💥#UCL
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Xavi likes the way Cubarsi passes – the range, the timing, the execution. Left foot, right foot. Short long. Cut, driven. Straight, disguised. He can do anything. But it was Cubarsi’s decision-making in possession that was arguably most impressive, especially in the context of the occasion in Paris.
The passage of play shown in the following set of images takes place just after Barcelona had conceded twice in a row early in the second half. In other words, it would be easy to fatigue the brains.
But when Cubarsi, Barcelona’s deepest player, receives this pass from Frenkie de Jong, he doesn’t get angry at all and never considers taking the easy way out by returning to his goalkeeper.
As Bradley Barcola closes him down, Cubarsi brings the ball back with his cleats while looking around to identify his next pass.
Cubarsi moves away from the PSG striker and slips in a nice reverse ball…
… between three PSG players, and at the feet of De Jong, and Barcelona are on the attack again.
This kind of passing has been a hallmark of his game within Barcelona’s academy for years.
“I would say he has one of the best abilities we have ever seen here,” Xavi said.
Quite a compliment. Then again, the people at Barcelona have already stated that they see elements of Gérard Pique and Carles Puyol in Cubarsi, who seems to have a nice knack for getting out of difficult situations with the minimum of complications.
In the scenario below, Cubarsi intercepts a pass that was intended for Ousmane Dembele, but it’s what he does next that’s really interesting.
Instead of passing to his goalkeeper or clearing the ball, Cubarsi dribbles away from Dembele and…
… makes a nice left-footed pass to Pedri, the substitute who superbly scored Barcelona’s second goal…
…and visitors can break.
Above all, Cubarsi can also defend. He closed the door on Dembélé in the first 10 minutes.
Then he held his own against Mbappé when he went one-on-one, eventually forcing the Frenchman to pass back.
And Cubarsi also somehow came back to make a perfectly timed block on Mbappe, who was then flagged offside.
By the time the halftime whistle blew, Cubarsi had frustrated each of PSG’s front three.
A fine delivery from Nuno Mendes from the left, in first-half stoppage time, implored Marco Asensio to attack the ball through the middle.
But Cubarsi was alert to the danger and made sure to cross the Spaniard…
…and took on another exceptional challenge.
Cubarsi’s performance wasn’t perfect – he was booked in the second half – and there was a moment in the first half where he was tackled trying to come out with the ball. But the talent is there, for all to see.
“These young Barca kids were great today,” said Rio Ferdinand, former England defender and TNT Sports pundit. “You think what we were doing at 16/17 – we could never have gone out and played at that level with that energy and that aura. It was really good to see.
(Top photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)