Football: Champions League: First quarter-final after Messi

The youth give hope at FC Barcelona. In January, shortly before his 17th birthday, Pau Cubarsí was allowed to play as a central defender in the Barça first team for the first time. In his first game in the Champions League on Tuesday evening in the Olympic Stadium, which was sold out with a good 50,000 spectators, he was immediately named MVP, the Most Valuable Player, the most valuable player of the game. In the previous Spanish league game against RCD Mallorca on March 8th, it was 16-year-old braces wearer Lamine Yamal who secured the 1-0 win with a dream goal and was voted MVP. These two players from the 2007 class are the bearers of hope for a way out of the crisis, which is primarily economic, but also has a sporting impact, because Barcelona has to save on salaries and can no longer afford to buy new top stars anyway. Who will have to be sold in the summer due to financial difficulties is still up in the air. The two 2007s should be kept in any case and the recently circulating 200 million euros for Yamal, which Paris Saint Germain is said to have offered, have been denied.

Progressing in the Champions League will bring around 20 million euros into the consumptive coffers of the club, which like no other has suffered a drop in income as a result of the corona pandemic. The Barça Museum alone, which has the most visitors before the Picasso Museum, took in 60 million euros in pre-pandemic times. It is currently closed again because its location, the Camp Nou stadium, is being renovated – a 1.5 billion euro project on credit. Because of the renovation, the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona’s Montjuïc mountain must be played this season and as planned until the fall. At least 60,000 of the 105,000 places should be accessible again for the club’s 125th birthday on November 29th.

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Cu, Cu, Cubarsí

Cubarsí was not only outstanding in the duels and in the opening of the game, but also involved in the most contentious scene of the game. When the score was 2-1, he had a running duel with the Nigerian Napoli striker Victor Oshimen at the beginning of the second half. There was slight contact on his foot, Oshimen stumbled and the Italians wildly demanded a penalty. But Dutch referee Danny Makkelie’s whistle remained silent and the video referee did not intervene. In this phase at the beginning of the second half, Napoli was on the verge of equalizing and turning a game that initially only knew one direction: one-way street football towards the goal of the reigning Italian champions SSC Napoli, guarded by Alex Meret. Barça created chances almost every minute in the first half hour. The first big chance was missed by 20-year-old Fermín López after a dream pass from Cubarsí alone in front of the goalkeeper in the 13th minute. Like Cubarsí and Yamal, López comes from La Masia, the Catalan club’s talent factory. Two minutes later, López did better and completed a quick attack across several stations with an unsustainable low shot. Another two minutes later the strong goalkeeper Meret had to admit defeat again. This time Yamal initiated the attack with a diagonal pass to Raphinha, who only hit the post, but Portuguese left-back João Cancelo, on loan from Manchester City, scored with the follow-up shot. After the 1-1 draw in the first leg three weeks ago in Naples, the course was set early for progress to the quarter-finals, which Barcelona had recently reached against Naples in 2020, with goalscorers like Leo Messi and Luis Suárez now on the side Storm side at Inter Miami.

Naples were rarely able to cope with Barcelona’s pressing in the first half hour, lost a lot of balls and could hardly break free. But as if out of nowhere, the next goal came in the 30th minute from the advanced Kosovar central defender Amir Rrahmani, who was able to beat German national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen with a low shot. Shortly afterwards, only a brilliant save from Ter Stegen prevented the equalizer before the break, when he was able to direct Di Lorenzo’s header over the crossbar with his fingertips.

At the beginning of the second half, Naples remained in control, there were chances on both sides and the missed penalty, which could have made a tragic hero out of the MVP Cubarsí. In the final phase, Barcelona got a better grip on the game again thanks to the stabilizing substitutions of midfielders Sergi Roberto and Oriol Romeu, over 30-year-olds who were once trained at La Masia. Lamine Yamal’s 3-1 in the 68th minute did not count because of offside, but in the 83rd minute Robert Lewandowski effortlessly scored into the empty net after great work from İlkay Gündoğan and Sergi Roberto. It was the only noteworthy action by the 35-year-old striker, whom Barcelona freed from Bayern Munich in 2022 for 40 million euros – paid for with money from rights sales, which will result in less income in the future because the rights buyers want their investment back profitably. Naples then fought back bravely, had a hit on the crossbar and had chances, but Barça’s victory remained safe.

Two minors in the starting line-up

For the first time in the history of the Champions League, which dates back to 1992, a team competed with two minors in the starting line-up – Cubarsí and Yamal – Barcelona proudly announced in a press release. Cubarsí, who, as against Mallorca, was repeatedly celebrated with chants of Cu, Cu, Cubarsí, also shone with his excellent analysis after the game: “We managed to convert the pressure into passion, we gave everything from the start.” In fact, on March 12th, Barcelona had a game intensity that has rarely or never been seen this season, which also led to criticism of coach Xavi Hernández, who announced his resignation at the end of January at the end of the season. For his part, Xavi is a club legend with 767 games, the most behind Leo Messi, who scored a whopping 672 goals and 269 assists in 778 games. During his era, Barcelona were at least in the quarter-finals 13 times in a row from 2008 onwards, and it was only in his last year in 2021 that they only made it to the round of 16. This could now be achieved again for the first time, like the quarter-finals. The truth is that this was one of the best days of my life. “We reached the quarter-finals after a few difficult years at the club,” said Cubarsí, summing up the fact that Barcelona are currently going through difficult times. The bright spot are the boys Fermín, Lamine and Cubarsí themselves – plus 19-year-old Gavi, who injured his cruciate ligament, and 19-year-old Alejandro Balde, who was also injured – all from our own offspring. Without money it is more important than ever.

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