The centre-back makes history as the youngest defender to represent Barça in a competition.
Pau Cubarsí won’t quickly forget March 12, 2024. At 17 years, 1 month, and 20 days, he surpassed his equally youthful team-mate Héctor Fort, who was 17 years and 133 days old when he faced Antwerp earlier in this particular edition, to become the youngest defender to represent Barça in the Champions League.
The teenager’s Man of The Match effort, which propelled the Blaugranes into the competition’s last eight, and was cause for celebration. Just two months have passed since Pau Cubarsí participated in his first-ever competitive match for Barça.
Xavi Hernández may have only used the young player as a last-resort to cover for injuries, but he has impressed enough to start appearing more frequently in his defensive strategies.
The youthful defender outperformed every other player on the Barça team in terms of passes made and passes completed against Napoli. A real man-of-the-match performance.
Cubarsí played three games in the UEFA Youth League, two of which were this season. In less than a year, he has appeared in three international and continental competitions.
He also represented Spain U17 at the European Championship and World Cup, starting all but one of the team’s group stage matches against Uzbekistan, when he was rested after his team had advanced to the knockout stage.
