Barcelona prodigy endures disappointing outing at Paris Olympics

Pau Cubarsi was initially called up to be part of the Spanish national team for the European Championships in Germany. However, he was excluded from the final squad list as the RFEF preferred the youngster to represent the nation in the Olympics.

The Spanish national team’s Olympics campaign in Paris began yesterday with a 2-1 win over Uzbekistan. While the result may have been favourable, the game was far from memorable for Cubarsi.

A forgettable debut

The coach, Santi Denia, usually deploys a combination of a right-footed and left-footed centre-back to maintain balance in defence. Last afternoon, however, he deployed two right centre-backs in Barcelona duo Eric Garcia and Pau Cubarsi.

The Blaugrana duo did not hit the required chemistry from the get-go. While Garcia managed to stick in with his experience and won duels against Eldor Shomurodov, Cubarsi appeared overwhelmed.

Cubarsi started for Spain but struggled. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)

The teenage star quickly got underconfident and found himself booked in just the 7th minute after an unnecessary foul on Jasorbek Galuludinov. Under pressure for the rest of the game, the youngster collapsed.

Far from himself

Cubarsi’s game went from bad to worse late in the first half when he conceded a penalty kick and allowed Uzbekistan an equaliser that they capitalised on.

The Barcelona star was taken off at half-time given his lack of confidence and the yellow card he received.

While the young defender’s poor game could well be down to nerves from playing for his country, Cubarsi looked far from himself throughout the game.

Spain, as a collective, struggled to get the ball out of their own half in the opening 45 minutes, but it was more surprising that Cubarsi was unable to play out from the back with confidence.

After all, ball control and distribution have been the highlights of Cubarsi’s phenomenal displays at the club level. The 17-year-old will now hope to shake it off and bounce back stronger in the games to come.