Barcelona’s 17-year-old talent already playing like a veteran, has impressed locker room

During Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Alaves, a certain Pau Cubarsi was making his sixth first-team appearance of the season and Jaume Marcet has reported via SPORT that his handful of performances is already attracting rave reviews from the locker room.

Marcet writes that Cubarsi’s ‘performances are placing him as one of Barça’s in-form players’ and everyone at the club is amazed by his excellent show of skills.

It is to be noted that Xavi chose to start the 17-year-old defender from La Masia, even though there were other options for centre-backs.

Jules Kounde played as a full-back, Ronald Araujo was in the right centre-back position, and Andreas Christensen acted as a =defensive midfielder. 

Amidst all this, the standout defender was Pau Cubarsí, the young player who played at left centre-back and delivered another impressive performance.

Xavi has no doubt about Cubarsi’s growth

Over the years, Cubarsi has been coached by several managers, namely, Marc Serra, Ivan Carrasco, Iban Cuadrado, and Oscar Lopez, and each one of them has shared a positive review of the defender.

Last night’s performance, however, earned him yet another admirer in Xavi. The Barcelona manager knew about Cubarsi’s abilities and decided to give him a chance and he played like a seasoned player throughout his time on the field. 

Pau Cubarsi has played six matches for the first team this season. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

He was smart, mature, and was not afraid of challenges. Now, Xavi has always praised Cubarsi’s performances, and even after yesterday’s match, he expressed his amazement, saying,

“We were joking with Cubarsi… He seems to be a veteran, with his ball delivery and his aggressiveness in defense, and he doesn’t lose duels. I’m very satisfied with him,” said the manager.

There’s much more to his performance

During the 83 minutes he played against Alaves, Cubarsi touched the ball 83 times and completed 78 passes. An impressive 95% of these passes reached their target, with only four being incorrect. 

What’s noteworthy is that Cubarsi is not afraid to attempt risky passes, going beyond standard plays to connect with midfielders. This boldness, along with his smart ball handling, contributes to long and successful possessions.

As a matter of fact, the entire coaching staff is very pleased with the current team, where Lamine Yamal excels in attack, Cubarsi is a reliable defender, Hector Fort performs well in all aspects of the game and Marc Guiu is a consistently useful player.