“When there are problems, look at the quarry.” This commandment should be engraved on the door of all Barça facilities. And in small print, as a long subtitle, an addition: “This is always better than reaching for your wallet, especially when money is more scarce than water.” Before the game at the Benito Villamarín, a very demanding stadium, and with the imperative need to win, Xavi embraced his nursery. Not only did he opt for a classic like Lamine Yamal, who has played in all the games of the season except the two in the Cup due to suspension, but he gave the starting job to Pau Cubarsí.
The center back had debuted on Thursday in the Cup with very good performances and with the absences of Iñigo Martínez, Christensen, Cancelo and Marcos Alonso, the one from Terrassa turned without thinking to the boy from Estanyol, a town of 190 inhabitants that belongs to Bescanó (Girona) . This Monday he turns 17 and received an early gift. Gift with tremendous responsibility.
He solved it judiciously, as if he had already played quite a few games in the First Division. With proper positioning, marking the defensive line well and with a clean and neat release of the ball. A true product of the Barcelona academy. “Our quarry is a treasure. “They are ready to play,” Xavi told La Liga TV minutes before starting. The facts supported his words and after the game the coach was very happy. “We have won with young players and personality. The culé will be proud.” he reasoned.
While Lamine Yamal, who will not be 17 years old until July, showed the explosiveness that dazzled him at the beginning of the season, Cubarsi endured with a very creditable spirit, without being overcome by events. There are footballers who debut with fear in their eyes and a tremor in their legs and others who do so with their eyes wide open, with excitement on their faces and looks that anticipate a good professional career. “He has not lost a single ball, he has played them with a lot of sense. He is a focused and responsible boy,” praised Xavi.
They are both homegrown players and they couldn’t come from more opposite places. Lamine Yamal, starter after seven games, is the son of immigration, his football is street, trick-or-treat and permanent overflow. Only the posts prevented him from scoring after a sensational action. He adds five shots to the wood. As soon as he improves, he will start celebrating goals because he deserves more than the two he has scored this season. You can see his art from afar, like when he skillfully practiced a fabulous roulette wheel. Lamine Yamal participated in two of Barcelona’s four goals.
In the other area, Cubarsí represents deep-rooted, lifelong Catalan, with a family that runs a carpentry shop in the town, generation after generation…since 1905.
A story that would delight Santiago Rusiñol with his famous Auca del senyor Esteve. Barça signed him from Girona in 2018 for the Alevín B team and since then he has done nothing but burn stages. Last season and at the beginning of this one he was still in the youth B discipline and with Rafa Márquez’s reserve team he has only played nine games.
Xavi has had him on his radar for months, he brought him up to some training sessions last year and has dedicated detailed monitoring to him. When he put it on, the young man responded with astonishing naturalness, even in the moments of the most harassment from Betis. He then appeared to make category cuts. Before being replaced by cramps he took a small bottle of vitamins. Barça needs that vitamin of youth. “Pau Cubarsí is going to mark an era for the club, just like Lamine Yamal.” Xavi’s word.
