Pau Cubarsi has become a household name for FC Barcelona almost overnight. A talented defender, tall and quick, the 17 year-old prodigy has the all makings of a modern centre-back.
While a defender is supposed to defend, Pau is able to do that with aplomb and excellence. However, it is passing that catches the eye. So adept he is at playing out from the back, Cubarsi is one of the best players on the ball to have ever graced the Barcelona jersey.
His masterclass against Victor Osimhen in the Champions League Round of 16 and a brilliant exhibition of defending by keeping Mbappe and Dembele at bay, has Barcelona fans dreaming of a UCL Semi Final and beyond.
To put into context, Barcelona had been leaking goals left, right and centre before the his call-up to the team. But the team conceded only 5 goals in 7 games since his inclusion and has won all of them. Such is the impact.
While his maturity and level-headedness are the biggest intangibles of his game, Pau Cubarsi’s latest social media exploits show that he’s still a 17 year-old teenager after all.
Cubarsi is the name on almost everyone’s lips, especially with the ‘Cubarsi test’ trending on Twitter showing how even the most feared forwards on the planet have come up second-best against him. However, that’s not why he has been in the news in recent days.
Recently something amusing came to light about Cubarsi’s admiration for the celebrity Lana Rhoades.
Lana is a popular American adult-film actress and star. Amara Maple, her real name is a revered actress in the porn industry despite her relatively short tenure.
Rhoades is a celebrated and popular figure among her fans with multiple accolades for her work in adult films and has left it behind ever since she became a mother in 2018. However, she has joined an exclusive membership-only club OnlyFans and runs her own page.
A very famous personality herself, the teenager Pau has seemed to take interest in and liked a lot of the posts posted by the former on her Instagram, and the Football Twitter community is loving it. Especially considering the fact he is younger than 18 years of age, the minimal limit required to access such content.
As a young kid, he himself has been on Instagram for sometime now and by the looks of it, it seems Lana might have been the one of the first few celebrities and people he might have followed on Instagram. One of the posts he liked, dates back to 2021, when he was just 14!
After all said and done, Barcelona fans obviously see no problem with it. Well, that is as long as it doesn’t come in the way of his defending.
Some Barcelona fans are even offering Cubarsi more content if he is able to stop PSG’s fearsome and pacy attack from wreaking havoc at the Montjuic in the Second Leg on Tuesday. A fair deal if you ask me, for all parties concerned.
With all the strikers nullified this season, if this shows anything, it is that whilst being a powerhouse in defense, Pau Cubarsi is human after all. A human teenager at that, who has his own personal life too despite skyrocketing to stardom at such a tender age.
Perhaps he would have been careful with his internet activity had he known he’d playing in the first team so early in his career and that he’d need a PR manager.
Regardless, Cubarsi is a beast at the back alongside Ronald Araujo, Jules Kounde and Joao Cancelo for Barcelona. The young boy exudes confidence and strength for his club, which has completely changed the trajectory of Xavi’s team.
With a long career ahead of him, there is certainly much to learn for the defender, both on and off the pitch. A tough week ahead, facing PSG and Real Madrid within days of each other, might be the one of the many tough lessons to come.