18-year-old Barcelona defender leads the way for key metric at the FIFA World Cup | OneFootball

The ongoing FIFA World Cup has been full of astonishing performances, and several FC Barcelona players have managed to deliver as well. While most of the plaudits are seemingly directed towards the likes of Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Dani Olmo, and even Frenkie de Jong, there is another player who is flying under the radar.

Pau Cubarsi, still just 18 years old, has had the Spanish National team’s defense locked down in both their first two games. Against Cape Verde and against Saudi Arabia recently, Cubarsi and his defensive partners managed to keep a clean sheet.

However, beyond just his elite defensive performances so far, Cubarsi has been showcasing another brilliant aspect of his game so far in the tournament. As pointed out by WhoScored, the young Barcelona defender currently has the highest passing accuracy at the tournament as well.

Maintaining a 98.6% passing accuracy is no small feat, and any player would be proud of managing such a feat in the first two games of the World Cup. Yet, when that kind of statistic is attached to the name of an 18-year-old defender, things start to look even more impressive.

Across the first two games, the Spaniard has attempted a total of 208 passes, and has successfully distributed 205 of them. Moreover, he has managed to create a total of three chances across those two games thanks to his distribution, and has also completed 29 passes into the final third as well.

While Lamine Yamal might be getting the headlines for the impressive work that he has been doing in the attack, Cubarsi’s contributions should not go unnoticed. So far, the young Barcelona defender is having an outstanding tournament and deserves the plaudits for it as well. With their next game being against Uruguay, both Spain and Cubarsi will be looking to ensure that they finish in the top spot of their group by the end of the group stage.