Former World Cup winner in awe of Barcelona defensive talent – ‘Are you kidding me? Impossible’

Pau Cubarsi’s explosion in the Barcelona first-team setup has been unprecedented. The La Masia ace made his debut for the Blaugrana last season at just 16 years of age and required only a few matches to cement his place in the starting lineup.

Now 17, Cubarsi is an indispensable member of Hansi Flick’s defensive line, which is standing out for its coordination in catching opponents offside, and is carving out a place for himself in the Spain national team as well.

The teenage defender’s outstanding form has not gone unnoticed by major figures in the beautiful game, one of who happens to be former France defender Adil Rami, who has showered praise on Cubarsi.

Rami in awe of Cubarsi

Rami, who was part of the France squad that won the FIFA World Cup in 2018, praised the level of tactical understanding and maturity that Cubarsi has shown this early in his career.

“How can he be a tactical phenomenon at his age? 17 years old… Are you kidding me? Impossible,” said Rami while reviewing one of the plays from the Catalan derby between Barcelona and Espanyol last weekend.

Further analysing the play, Rami continued: “The attacker positions himself to make a pass with his right foot and then Cubarsí scans, follows his marker and then stops.

“Then, however, the danger is on the other player arriving from the second line and there he cannot do anything. But he does it perfectly.”

Rami went on to praise the entire defensive line of Barcelona, citing the number of offside calls they won during the Clasico against his compatriot and Real Madrid megastar Kylian Mbappe.

“When they tell me that Kylian Mbappe was offside I don’t know how many times against Barcelona, I say: I congratulate Barcelona, their defence and Cubarsi,” said Rami.

“Because the offside traps since the beginning of this season are to be applauded for their defence more than to attack Kylian Mbappe for his positioning errors,” he added.

In fact, Barcelona are by far the team in Europe that catches their opponents offside the most – 99 times in total this season with 13 goals getting overturned.

The key to Cubarsi’s success and Barcelona’s brilliant deployment of the offside trap, points out Rami, lies in the daily work:

“They do it so well because they have worked a lot on it in training,” he said.

Source: SPORT