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Cubarsi and Yamal are the two teenagers taking the world by storm at Barcelona, but here are five recent moments in both Spanish and Barcelona's football history they may be too young to remember.
In a historic UEFA Champions League quarter-final clash against Paris Saint-Germain, a youthful Barcelona side etched their names in the annals of football history with a remarkable 3-2 victory in the first leg.
What made this achievement truly extraordinary was the composition of Barcelona's starting lineup, which featured two players aged under 18.
Lamine Yamal, just 16 years old, and Pau Cubarsi, 17, took to the pitch in Paris, becoming the first duo of such young age to start for a team at this crucial stage of the tournament.
Under the guidance of coach Xavi Hernandez, Yamal and Cubarsi showcased composure, skill, and tactical awareness, embodying the essence of Barcelona's famed youth development system.
Both could go on to help the side reach the semi-finals should they finish the job in Spain, but given they were both born in 2007, just before a period of sustained dominance for Barcelona and the Spain national team between 2008 and 2012, We highlighted five of those moments they may have been too young to remember:
Barcelona’s historic sextuple in 2009
When Josep Guardiola guided Barcelona to their historic 2009 where they won all six possible trophies up for grabs, it is crazy to imagine that both Yamal and Cubarsi were two-years old.
Surely, these two were still suckling at that point in their lives and did not even have a clue about what a television was, let alone actually sit down and watch the side dominate all the sides their way to victory with swash-buckling football.
Cubarsi, a central defender, could surely not have known that Yaya Toure played as a center back in the final against Manchester United in Rome, which they won 2-0 thanks to goals by Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o.
Yamal, who aspires to inherit Lionel Messi’s famous number 10 shirt, would not have known that his own hero was taking the world by storm at that point.
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Spain winning the World Cup and back-to-back Euros
Yamal has been in the spotlight since the start of the season, and as a result, already has won six caps for Spain, scoring two goals.
Cubarsi only made his Barcelona debut this January, but has already been fast-tracked into the Spain squad, where he could even make the squad for the Euros.
However, when the side itself won the 2008 Euros, both were a year old. When they won the World Cup two years later, they were only three, and by the time they were successfully defending their crown in 2012, both would only have been five years old.
Maybe, they might have faint memories of that last achievement, but that would still be a stretch, considering they would just have been starting school at that point.
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Domination of Manchester United at Wembley
Barcelona won their second Champions League crown under Pep Guardiola in 2011, two years after they had won the first one in Rome in 2009.
On that evening they won that title at Wembley in 2011, they played Manchester United completely off the park, with Messi, Pedro and David Villa scoring for the Blaugrana, while United’s only goal came through Wayne Rooney.
Both wonderkids were four years old at that point. They may have observed a lot of clips online given the technology galore that has been fully embraced by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but they certainly are not old enough to remember watching that game live.
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Ill-tempered 2011 El Clasico
The start of the forgettable 2011/12 Barcelona season - and Guardiola’s last in charge of the club - witnessed them play against their arch-nemesis Real Madrid in the 2011 Super Cup, which they won 5–4 on aggregate for their tenth title.
They won the second leg match 3-2. Goals from Andrés Iniesta and a brace, including the game winner, by Lionel Messi assured Barça started their season with silverware.
but it was overshadowed by several sending offs for a brawl started after Barcelona players deemed a tackle by Marcelo on Cesc Fàbregas to be dangerous play.
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Villa, Mesut Özil and Marcelo all received their marching orders after calm was restored. Madrid manager José Mourinho and Barça's assistant Tito Vilanova were also involved in a small physical altercation, with the former poking the latter in the eye.
When this happened, both Cubarsi and Yamal were four.
Barca’s 7-0 humiliation to Bayern in 2013
Barcelona lost the 2013 UEFA Champions League semi-final in humiliating fashion, as they lost 7-0 on aggregate to eventual champions Bayern Munich.
Bayern won the first leg 4-0 at home, before beating an injury plagued Barca 3-0 in the second leg, with Lionel Messi suffering an injury in the first leg which ruled him out of the second.
Yamal and Cubarsi would have been six years old at the time. This is a game they may remember, but then again, most six year-olds do not exactly remember everything that happened to their lives.
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