Up until October, Barcelona had been able to withstand certain injuries rather effectively while watching the stars of its rival teams, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, disappear like flies. However, due to injury concerns, they have already lost Jules Kounde, Frenkie de Jong, Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Pedri. Additionally, the current status of Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde remains unknown.
Xavi Hernandez might think about making a move to the Barca Athletic squad, though, as the only available central defenders are Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, and Inigo Martinez—all of whom have had injury problems in the last year.
Pau Cubarsi (16) and Mikayil Faye (19), who have been starting for Rafael Marquez, are the two obvious choices.
These two athletes have a good understanding of one another on the offensive and defensive ends. Although they both have strong ball control, Mika may be more powerful due to his physical attributes. Cuba is more deliberate and wiser at close quarters.
“They’re both on stage. Cuba shocks me because, while being relatively young for this level, he acts like an experienced player, even though I previously knew about his talent, Marquez told Sport.
Faye, who can also play at left-back and might be more prepared for the physical demands of the senior game, might have been the more apparent choice to call up. Nonetheless, Cubarsi has an additional advantage.
As a homegrown under-19 player, the 16-year-old is registered for Barcelona in the Champions League, but Faye was not eligible to be registered in that capacity as a new signing. It would have required the squad to assign him a first-team spot.
Xavi will probably want to keep only one of them in the first-team dynamics given the upcoming doubleheader against Shakhtar Donetsk, and Cubarsi appears to have the advantage in that sense simply due their availability.
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