When it comes to the cultural foundation for Pau Cubarsí’s extraordinary emergence as a frontline Champions League defender and Olympic gold medallist aged just 17, the place to start the search is: location, location, location.
The gifted Barcelona teenager was actually born and brought up a good 90-minute drive northeast of the Camp Nou. But the club’s identity reverberates through the generations – from Johan Cruyff through Pep Guardiola via Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué. The rise of this talented kid from a small village, with all the skills needed to dominate at the Barcelona academy, comes down to the power of that widespread footballing culture.
Vilablareix exists in dry, cattle-rearing Catalan countryside. It is as far from the cosmopolitan big-city life that Barcelona’s world-class stars enjoy as it’s possible to imagine. Resources aren’t plentiful, old customs still hold a grip on daily life and everyone knows everyone. It’s rustic. Given that Vilablareix’s football club is actually a couple of months younger than Cubarsí (both emerged in 2007), it wouldn’t be harsh to imagine the local outfit as rudimentary and little more than an excuse for social gatherings, or somewhere a ball can be kicked around hard, flat terrain by 22 players of wildly varying ability and fitness levels. Not true. Not even close. By the time this elegant footballer reached Barcelona’s academy, aged 11, he had already been indoctrinated in the philosophy, skills, nerve, vision and confidence of how to play out from the back.
Even having been trained in a tiny footballing side, many miles from the heart of the Barça way, Cubarsí benefited from the belief which now infuses all sport in Catalunya; that you must be forward-thinking, visionary, daring, modern and dependent not solely on talent but also on intelligence and philosophy.
Our protagonist, speaking to Champions Journal at Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training ground, takes up the story. “Since I was a child, I’ve always played as a centre-back and one of my first coaches, David, at my home-town club FC Vilablareix, taught me how to get on the ball, how to play forward as a team, but, especially, how to set your stall out to win matches in addition to playing well. I learned about trying to play out from the back, no matter whether you make an error, just trying and trying to get out and forward. This really helped me when it came to acquiring the Barça DNA.”
Which is just as well, because not only was he spotted and recruited by Barça aged 11, he was in the first team aged 16.
“When I arrived at Barcelona, they taught me more about tactics: how to position myself defensively when attacking – because, at Barça, it’s pivotal to attack well – and they also taught me more about how to play out from the back. At this club, that is fundamental, and I did passing drills, body-position drills to beat the press, and trying to find a team-mate in between the lines. Which is how I became the player I am now.
“During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up”
“A centre-back must help the team a lot in terms of communication and defending, but it’s about always being focused, being in the game, helping the team, because it’s one of the positions where you can see almost everything. Personally, I really like defending because you have to be good at intercepting, you have to get stuck in, fight for every ball like it was the last one. The key is that, if you’re a defender, you have to give it absolutely everything.”
Cubarsí has starred in wins over Real Madrid, Bayern München and Paris Saint-Germain and was Player of the Match on his Champions League debut against Napoli in the round of 16 last season.
Right now, his USP is that – still only 17, remember – he’s the leader of a Barça back four which plays an average of 51 metres from its own goal line in La Liga (scarily high) and which, on the domestic stage plus the Champions League, had caught opponents offside over 100 times between mid-August and early November, an astonishing feat requiring unremitting attention to detail.
Which brings us back to location, location, location. For familiar rather than footballing reasons. Cubarsí grew up in a family tradition of carpentry, and the ethos of a master craftsman was dinned into him from the earliest age.
He says: “Creating something with your hands teaches you values. It teaches you to be very precise because, when you receive a client order, you must fulfil it to perfection, and you must pay attention to every detail so that the client is happy. During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up.
“The Cubarsí name includes almost three generations of carpenters, and we make cupboards, doors, chairs… a little bit of everything. We always strive for perfection in order to make the client happy and to ensure that the legacy keeps moving forward, so that it lasts for many more years.”
Quality, precision, vision, concentration, mastering your craft. Cultural values which, when added to good philosophy-driven coaching, have turned out a stunning, high-achieving artisan defender.
When it comes to the cultural foundation for Pau Cubarsí’s extraordinary emergence as a frontline Champions League defender and Olympic gold medallist aged just 17, the place to start the search is: location, location, location.
The gifted Barcelona teenager was actually born and brought up a good 90-minute drive northeast of the Camp Nou. But the club’s identity reverberates through the generations – from Johan Cruyff through Pep Guardiola via Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué. The rise of this talented kid from a small village, with all the skills needed to dominate at the Barcelona academy, comes down to the power of that widespread footballing culture.
Vilablareix exists in dry, cattle-rearing Catalan countryside. It is as far from the cosmopolitan big-city life that Barcelona’s world-class stars enjoy as it’s possible to imagine. Resources aren’t plentiful, old customs still hold a grip on daily life and everyone knows everyone. It’s rustic. Given that Vilablareix’s football club is actually a couple of months younger than Cubarsí (both emerged in 2007), it wouldn’t be harsh to imagine the local outfit as rudimentary and little more than an excuse for social gatherings, or somewhere a ball can be kicked around hard, flat terrain by 22 players of wildly varying ability and fitness levels. Not true. Not even close. By the time this elegant footballer reached Barcelona’s academy, aged 11, he had already been indoctrinated in the philosophy, skills, nerve, vision and confidence of how to play out from the back.
Even having been trained in a tiny footballing side, many miles from the heart of the Barça way, Cubarsí benefited from the belief which now infuses all sport in Catalunya; that you must be forward-thinking, visionary, daring, modern and dependent not solely on talent but also on intelligence and philosophy.
Our protagonist, speaking to Champions Journal at Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training ground, takes up the story. “Since I was a child, I’ve always played as a centre-back and one of my first coaches, David, at my home-town club FC Vilablareix, taught me how to get on the ball, how to play forward as a team, but, especially, how to set your stall out to win matches in addition to playing well. I learned about trying to play out from the back, no matter whether you make an error, just trying and trying to get out and forward. This really helped me when it came to acquiring the Barça DNA.”
Which is just as well, because not only was he spotted and recruited by Barça aged 11, he was in the first team aged 16.
“When I arrived at Barcelona, they taught me more about tactics: how to position myself defensively when attacking – because, at Barça, it’s pivotal to attack well – and they also taught me more about how to play out from the back. At this club, that is fundamental, and I did passing drills, body-position drills to beat the press, and trying to find a team-mate in between the lines. Which is how I became the player I am now.
“During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up”
“A centre-back must help the team a lot in terms of communication and defending, but it’s about always being focused, being in the game, helping the team, because it’s one of the positions where you can see almost everything. Personally, I really like defending because you have to be good at intercepting, you have to get stuck in, fight for every ball like it was the last one. The key is that, if you’re a defender, you have to give it absolutely everything.”
Cubarsí has starred in wins over Real Madrid, Bayern München and Paris Saint-Germain and was Player of the Match on his Champions League debut against Napoli in the round of 16 last season.
Right now, his USP is that – still only 17, remember – he’s the leader of a Barça back four which plays an average of 51 metres from its own goal line in La Liga (scarily high) and which, on the domestic stage plus the Champions League, had caught opponents offside over 100 times between mid-August and early November, an astonishing feat requiring unremitting attention to detail.
Which brings us back to location, location, location. For familiar rather than footballing reasons. Cubarsí grew up in a family tradition of carpentry, and the ethos of a master craftsman was dinned into him from the earliest age.
He says: “Creating something with your hands teaches you values. It teaches you to be very precise because, when you receive a client order, you must fulfil it to perfection, and you must pay attention to every detail so that the client is happy. During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up.
“The Cubarsí name includes almost three generations of carpenters, and we make cupboards, doors, chairs… a little bit of everything. We always strive for perfection in order to make the client happy and to ensure that the legacy keeps moving forward, so that it lasts for many more years.”
Quality, precision, vision, concentration, mastering your craft. Cultural values which, when added to good philosophy-driven coaching, have turned out a stunning, high-achieving artisan defender.
When it comes to the cultural foundation for Pau Cubarsí’s extraordinary emergence as a frontline Champions League defender and Olympic gold medallist aged just 17, the place to start the search is: location, location, location.
The gifted Barcelona teenager was actually born and brought up a good 90-minute drive northeast of the Camp Nou. But the club’s identity reverberates through the generations – from Johan Cruyff through Pep Guardiola via Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué. The rise of this talented kid from a small village, with all the skills needed to dominate at the Barcelona academy, comes down to the power of that widespread footballing culture.
Vilablareix exists in dry, cattle-rearing Catalan countryside. It is as far from the cosmopolitan big-city life that Barcelona’s world-class stars enjoy as it’s possible to imagine. Resources aren’t plentiful, old customs still hold a grip on daily life and everyone knows everyone. It’s rustic. Given that Vilablareix’s football club is actually a couple of months younger than Cubarsí (both emerged in 2007), it wouldn’t be harsh to imagine the local outfit as rudimentary and little more than an excuse for social gatherings, or somewhere a ball can be kicked around hard, flat terrain by 22 players of wildly varying ability and fitness levels. Not true. Not even close. By the time this elegant footballer reached Barcelona’s academy, aged 11, he had already been indoctrinated in the philosophy, skills, nerve, vision and confidence of how to play out from the back.
Even having been trained in a tiny footballing side, many miles from the heart of the Barça way, Cubarsí benefited from the belief which now infuses all sport in Catalunya; that you must be forward-thinking, visionary, daring, modern and dependent not solely on talent but also on intelligence and philosophy.
Our protagonist, speaking to Champions Journal at Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training ground, takes up the story. “Since I was a child, I’ve always played as a centre-back and one of my first coaches, David, at my home-town club FC Vilablareix, taught me how to get on the ball, how to play forward as a team, but, especially, how to set your stall out to win matches in addition to playing well. I learned about trying to play out from the back, no matter whether you make an error, just trying and trying to get out and forward. This really helped me when it came to acquiring the Barça DNA.”
Which is just as well, because not only was he spotted and recruited by Barça aged 11, he was in the first team aged 16.
“When I arrived at Barcelona, they taught me more about tactics: how to position myself defensively when attacking – because, at Barça, it’s pivotal to attack well – and they also taught me more about how to play out from the back. At this club, that is fundamental, and I did passing drills, body-position drills to beat the press, and trying to find a team-mate in between the lines. Which is how I became the player I am now.
“During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up”
“A centre-back must help the team a lot in terms of communication and defending, but it’s about always being focused, being in the game, helping the team, because it’s one of the positions where you can see almost everything. Personally, I really like defending because you have to be good at intercepting, you have to get stuck in, fight for every ball like it was the last one. The key is that, if you’re a defender, you have to give it absolutely everything.”
Cubarsí has starred in wins over Real Madrid, Bayern München and Paris Saint-Germain and was Player of the Match on his Champions League debut against Napoli in the round of 16 last season.
Right now, his USP is that – still only 17, remember – he’s the leader of a Barça back four which plays an average of 51 metres from its own goal line in La Liga (scarily high) and which, on the domestic stage plus the Champions League, had caught opponents offside over 100 times between mid-August and early November, an astonishing feat requiring unremitting attention to detail.
Which brings us back to location, location, location. For familiar rather than footballing reasons. Cubarsí grew up in a family tradition of carpentry, and the ethos of a master craftsman was dinned into him from the earliest age.
He says: “Creating something with your hands teaches you values. It teaches you to be very precise because, when you receive a client order, you must fulfil it to perfection, and you must pay attention to every detail so that the client is happy. During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up.
“The Cubarsí name includes almost three generations of carpenters, and we make cupboards, doors, chairs… a little bit of everything. We always strive for perfection in order to make the client happy and to ensure that the legacy keeps moving forward, so that it lasts for many more years.”
Quality, precision, vision, concentration, mastering your craft. Cultural values which, when added to good philosophy-driven coaching, have turned out a stunning, high-achieving artisan defender.
When it comes to the cultural foundation for Pau Cubarsí’s extraordinary emergence as a frontline Champions League defender and Olympic gold medallist aged just 17, the place to start the search is: location, location, location.
The gifted Barcelona teenager was actually born and brought up a good 90-minute drive northeast of the Camp Nou. But the club’s identity reverberates through the generations – from Johan Cruyff through Pep Guardiola via Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué. The rise of this talented kid from a small village, with all the skills needed to dominate at the Barcelona academy, comes down to the power of that widespread footballing culture.
Vilablareix exists in dry, cattle-rearing Catalan countryside. It is as far from the cosmopolitan big-city life that Barcelona’s world-class stars enjoy as it’s possible to imagine. Resources aren’t plentiful, old customs still hold a grip on daily life and everyone knows everyone. It’s rustic. Given that Vilablareix’s football club is actually a couple of months younger than Cubarsí (both emerged in 2007), it wouldn’t be harsh to imagine the local outfit as rudimentary and little more than an excuse for social gatherings, or somewhere a ball can be kicked around hard, flat terrain by 22 players of wildly varying ability and fitness levels. Not true. Not even close. By the time this elegant footballer reached Barcelona’s academy, aged 11, he had already been indoctrinated in the philosophy, skills, nerve, vision and confidence of how to play out from the back.
Even having been trained in a tiny footballing side, many miles from the heart of the Barça way, Cubarsí benefited from the belief which now infuses all sport in Catalunya; that you must be forward-thinking, visionary, daring, modern and dependent not solely on talent but also on intelligence and philosophy.
Our protagonist, speaking to Champions Journal at Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training ground, takes up the story. “Since I was a child, I’ve always played as a centre-back and one of my first coaches, David, at my home-town club FC Vilablareix, taught me how to get on the ball, how to play forward as a team, but, especially, how to set your stall out to win matches in addition to playing well. I learned about trying to play out from the back, no matter whether you make an error, just trying and trying to get out and forward. This really helped me when it came to acquiring the Barça DNA.”
Which is just as well, because not only was he spotted and recruited by Barça aged 11, he was in the first team aged 16.
“When I arrived at Barcelona, they taught me more about tactics: how to position myself defensively when attacking – because, at Barça, it’s pivotal to attack well – and they also taught me more about how to play out from the back. At this club, that is fundamental, and I did passing drills, body-position drills to beat the press, and trying to find a team-mate in between the lines. Which is how I became the player I am now.
“During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up”
“A centre-back must help the team a lot in terms of communication and defending, but it’s about always being focused, being in the game, helping the team, because it’s one of the positions where you can see almost everything. Personally, I really like defending because you have to be good at intercepting, you have to get stuck in, fight for every ball like it was the last one. The key is that, if you’re a defender, you have to give it absolutely everything.”
Cubarsí has starred in wins over Real Madrid, Bayern München and Paris Saint-Germain and was Player of the Match on his Champions League debut against Napoli in the round of 16 last season.
Right now, his USP is that – still only 17, remember – he’s the leader of a Barça back four which plays an average of 51 metres from its own goal line in La Liga (scarily high) and which, on the domestic stage plus the Champions League, had caught opponents offside over 100 times between mid-August and early November, an astonishing feat requiring unremitting attention to detail.
Which brings us back to location, location, location. For familiar rather than footballing reasons. Cubarsí grew up in a family tradition of carpentry, and the ethos of a master craftsman was dinned into him from the earliest age.
He says: “Creating something with your hands teaches you values. It teaches you to be very precise because, when you receive a client order, you must fulfil it to perfection, and you must pay attention to every detail so that the client is happy. During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up.
“The Cubarsí name includes almost three generations of carpenters, and we make cupboards, doors, chairs… a little bit of everything. We always strive for perfection in order to make the client happy and to ensure that the legacy keeps moving forward, so that it lasts for many more years.”
Quality, precision, vision, concentration, mastering your craft. Cultural values which, when added to good philosophy-driven coaching, have turned out a stunning, high-achieving artisan defender.
When it comes to the cultural foundation for Pau Cubarsí’s extraordinary emergence as a frontline Champions League defender and Olympic gold medallist aged just 17, the place to start the search is: location, location, location.
The gifted Barcelona teenager was actually born and brought up a good 90-minute drive northeast of the Camp Nou. But the club’s identity reverberates through the generations – from Johan Cruyff through Pep Guardiola via Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué. The rise of this talented kid from a small village, with all the skills needed to dominate at the Barcelona academy, comes down to the power of that widespread footballing culture.
Vilablareix exists in dry, cattle-rearing Catalan countryside. It is as far from the cosmopolitan big-city life that Barcelona’s world-class stars enjoy as it’s possible to imagine. Resources aren’t plentiful, old customs still hold a grip on daily life and everyone knows everyone. It’s rustic. Given that Vilablareix’s football club is actually a couple of months younger than Cubarsí (both emerged in 2007), it wouldn’t be harsh to imagine the local outfit as rudimentary and little more than an excuse for social gatherings, or somewhere a ball can be kicked around hard, flat terrain by 22 players of wildly varying ability and fitness levels. Not true. Not even close. By the time this elegant footballer reached Barcelona’s academy, aged 11, he had already been indoctrinated in the philosophy, skills, nerve, vision and confidence of how to play out from the back.
Even having been trained in a tiny footballing side, many miles from the heart of the Barça way, Cubarsí benefited from the belief which now infuses all sport in Catalunya; that you must be forward-thinking, visionary, daring, modern and dependent not solely on talent but also on intelligence and philosophy.
Our protagonist, speaking to Champions Journal at Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training ground, takes up the story. “Since I was a child, I’ve always played as a centre-back and one of my first coaches, David, at my home-town club FC Vilablareix, taught me how to get on the ball, how to play forward as a team, but, especially, how to set your stall out to win matches in addition to playing well. I learned about trying to play out from the back, no matter whether you make an error, just trying and trying to get out and forward. This really helped me when it came to acquiring the Barça DNA.”
Which is just as well, because not only was he spotted and recruited by Barça aged 11, he was in the first team aged 16.
“When I arrived at Barcelona, they taught me more about tactics: how to position myself defensively when attacking – because, at Barça, it’s pivotal to attack well – and they also taught me more about how to play out from the back. At this club, that is fundamental, and I did passing drills, body-position drills to beat the press, and trying to find a team-mate in between the lines. Which is how I became the player I am now.
“During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up”
“A centre-back must help the team a lot in terms of communication and defending, but it’s about always being focused, being in the game, helping the team, because it’s one of the positions where you can see almost everything. Personally, I really like defending because you have to be good at intercepting, you have to get stuck in, fight for every ball like it was the last one. The key is that, if you’re a defender, you have to give it absolutely everything.”
Cubarsí has starred in wins over Real Madrid, Bayern München and Paris Saint-Germain and was Player of the Match on his Champions League debut against Napoli in the round of 16 last season.
Right now, his USP is that – still only 17, remember – he’s the leader of a Barça back four which plays an average of 51 metres from its own goal line in La Liga (scarily high) and which, on the domestic stage plus the Champions League, had caught opponents offside over 100 times between mid-August and early November, an astonishing feat requiring unremitting attention to detail.
Which brings us back to location, location, location. For familiar rather than footballing reasons. Cubarsí grew up in a family tradition of carpentry, and the ethos of a master craftsman was dinned into him from the earliest age.
He says: “Creating something with your hands teaches you values. It teaches you to be very precise because, when you receive a client order, you must fulfil it to perfection, and you must pay attention to every detail so that the client is happy. During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up.
“The Cubarsí name includes almost three generations of carpenters, and we make cupboards, doors, chairs… a little bit of everything. We always strive for perfection in order to make the client happy and to ensure that the legacy keeps moving forward, so that it lasts for many more years.”
Quality, precision, vision, concentration, mastering your craft. Cultural values which, when added to good philosophy-driven coaching, have turned out a stunning, high-achieving artisan defender.
When it comes to the cultural foundation for Pau Cubarsí’s extraordinary emergence as a frontline Champions League defender and Olympic gold medallist aged just 17, the place to start the search is: location, location, location.
The gifted Barcelona teenager was actually born and brought up a good 90-minute drive northeast of the Camp Nou. But the club’s identity reverberates through the generations – from Johan Cruyff through Pep Guardiola via Xavi Hernández, Carles Puyol and Gerard Piqué. The rise of this talented kid from a small village, with all the skills needed to dominate at the Barcelona academy, comes down to the power of that widespread footballing culture.
Vilablareix exists in dry, cattle-rearing Catalan countryside. It is as far from the cosmopolitan big-city life that Barcelona’s world-class stars enjoy as it’s possible to imagine. Resources aren’t plentiful, old customs still hold a grip on daily life and everyone knows everyone. It’s rustic. Given that Vilablareix’s football club is actually a couple of months younger than Cubarsí (both emerged in 2007), it wouldn’t be harsh to imagine the local outfit as rudimentary and little more than an excuse for social gatherings, or somewhere a ball can be kicked around hard, flat terrain by 22 players of wildly varying ability and fitness levels. Not true. Not even close. By the time this elegant footballer reached Barcelona’s academy, aged 11, he had already been indoctrinated in the philosophy, skills, nerve, vision and confidence of how to play out from the back.
Even having been trained in a tiny footballing side, many miles from the heart of the Barça way, Cubarsí benefited from the belief which now infuses all sport in Catalunya; that you must be forward-thinking, visionary, daring, modern and dependent not solely on talent but also on intelligence and philosophy.
Our protagonist, speaking to Champions Journal at Barcelona’s Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper training ground, takes up the story. “Since I was a child, I’ve always played as a centre-back and one of my first coaches, David, at my home-town club FC Vilablareix, taught me how to get on the ball, how to play forward as a team, but, especially, how to set your stall out to win matches in addition to playing well. I learned about trying to play out from the back, no matter whether you make an error, just trying and trying to get out and forward. This really helped me when it came to acquiring the Barça DNA.”
Which is just as well, because not only was he spotted and recruited by Barça aged 11, he was in the first team aged 16.
“When I arrived at Barcelona, they taught me more about tactics: how to position myself defensively when attacking – because, at Barça, it’s pivotal to attack well – and they also taught me more about how to play out from the back. At this club, that is fundamental, and I did passing drills, body-position drills to beat the press, and trying to find a team-mate in between the lines. Which is how I became the player I am now.
“During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up”
“A centre-back must help the team a lot in terms of communication and defending, but it’s about always being focused, being in the game, helping the team, because it’s one of the positions where you can see almost everything. Personally, I really like defending because you have to be good at intercepting, you have to get stuck in, fight for every ball like it was the last one. The key is that, if you’re a defender, you have to give it absolutely everything.”
Cubarsí has starred in wins over Real Madrid, Bayern München and Paris Saint-Germain and was Player of the Match on his Champions League debut against Napoli in the round of 16 last season.
Right now, his USP is that – still only 17, remember – he’s the leader of a Barça back four which plays an average of 51 metres from its own goal line in La Liga (scarily high) and which, on the domestic stage plus the Champions League, had caught opponents offside over 100 times between mid-August and early November, an astonishing feat requiring unremitting attention to detail.
Which brings us back to location, location, location. For familiar rather than footballing reasons. Cubarsí grew up in a family tradition of carpentry, and the ethos of a master craftsman was dinned into him from the earliest age.
He says: “Creating something with your hands teaches you values. It teaches you to be very precise because, when you receive a client order, you must fulfil it to perfection, and you must pay attention to every detail so that the client is happy. During the summers, I try to help out in my father’s carpentry shop, bringing him things or cleaning up.
“The Cubarsí name includes almost three generations of carpenters, and we make cupboards, doors, chairs… a little bit of everything. We always strive for perfection in order to make the client happy and to ensure that the legacy keeps moving forward, so that it lasts for many more years.”
Quality, precision, vision, concentration, mastering your craft. Cultural values which, when added to good philosophy-driven coaching, have turned out a stunning, high-achieving artisan defender.
