Pau Cubarsi’s incredible play that potentially saved Barcelona in El Clasico | OneFootball

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid recently took part in one of the most anticipated El Clasicos in recent memory. The fixture had it all in the build-up as the two Spanish giants got ready to take on each other for bragging rights and three crucial points. Ultimately, it was Barcelona that ended up humiliating Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Most of the credit for that game goes to the Barça forwards, and for understandable reasons. Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Lamine Yamal all had an exceptional outing against Los Blancos, and each of them ended up scoring a goal against their club’s eternal rivals.

However, there is another player who deserves the same kind of respect and recognition too for his performance in that game despite not directly being on the scoresheet. Pau Cubarsi, Barça’s 17-year-old defensive sensation, was a key piece that enabled his team to dismantle Real Madrid the way they did.

As highlighted by SPORT, there was a particular play that he made that deserves a lot more recognition than it has received because it potentially saved Barcelona quite early on in the game. Despite his age, the play in question tested his awareness and understanding of the game to their maximum extremes.

Near the 30th minute, Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe was through on towards the Barcelona goal after receiving a pass, but Pau Cubarsi ended up reading him like a book. Just as Lucas Vasquez dispatched his pass to the Frenchman, Cubarsi saw that Mbappe had already reached Inigo Martinez’s line and instantly positioned himself slightly ahead of Mbappe while taking a pause to trap him in an offside position.

As a consequence, Mbappe’s goal from that play ended up being ruled out. Had it been officially counted, the entire situation of the game could have changed and things could have potentially become much more complicated for Barcelona. Fortunately for La Blaugrana, Pau Cubarsi was there to save them.

For many viewers, this brilliant play that highlighted Cubarsi’s quick-thinking and maturity was overlooked. With Mbappe being the main focus during this particular play, it is understandable why the Barcelona youngster’s involvement was not exactly too prominent during the live broadcast.

However, upon further inspection of the entire play, it became clear that the young defender was always one step ahead of Mbappe. In fact, when it comes to offsides, the Barcelona defenders caught Real Madrid in offside positions on 12 separate occasions, with Mbappe being the culprit in eight of them.