Barcelona star adds yet another feather to his cap in record-breaking World Cup campaign | OneFootball

Pau Cubarsi has added another extraordinary achievement to his rapidly growing career, becoming the youngest starting centre-back ever to win the World Cup.

The FC Barcelona defender lifted the trophy with Spain at just 19 years, five months and 27 days old. According to Mundo Deportivo, no centre-back younger than 20 had previously started for a World Cup-winning side in the competition’s history.

Central defence has traditionally been a position dominated by experience at the highest level, making Cubarsi’s achievement even more remarkable.

Legendary World Cup-winning defenders including Bobby Moore, Franz Beckenbauer, Daniel Passarella, Fabio Cannavaro and Carles Puyol were all well into their twenties or thirties when they became champions. Even Gerard Pique was 23 when Spain won their first World Cup in 2010.

Cubarsi has completely changed that pattern.

The La Masia graduate was not simply a young player carried to the trophy by more experienced teammates. He played a fundamental role alongside Aymeric Laporte in a Spain defence that conceded only one goal throughout the entire tournament, a defensive record unmatched by any previous World Cup champion.

Barcelona have a generational defender on their hands

For Barcelona, that is perhaps the most exciting part of this historic achievement.

Cubarsi has already shown remarkable maturity at club level, but performing with such consistency on the biggest international stage removes almost any remaining doubt about his level. At 19, he has already handled pressures that many elite centre-backs do not experience until much later in their careers.

His success also strengthens the feeling that Barca’s defensive future can be built around him. The club may continue changing pieces around the back line, but Cubarsi increasingly looks like the constant.

There is also understandable frustration after both Cubarsi and Laporte were left off the list of nominees for the tournament’s best XI despite Spain’s historic defensive record. Cubarsi was, however, recognised as the World Cup’s Best Young Player.

Individual selections will always create debate. The record Cubarsi has just established cannot be voted away.