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Owen Hargreaves showered praise on Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi for his eye-catching performance against Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday, March 12. The Catalans emerged 3-1 victors at home, prevailing 4-2 on aggregate to reach the quarter-finals of the competition.
Cubarsi made his Champions League debut in the match and the 17-year-old did well to keep Victor Osimhen quiet. He made five clearances, one interception and three tackles, while also winning all three of his ground duels. He even registered a 90% passing accuracy.
Hargreaves, a former Bayern Munich and Manchester United midfielder, heaped praise on Cubarsi. Speaking on TNT Sports, he said:
"He [Cubarsi] was the star of the show. Yamal’s different because he’s obviously the winger. This kid [Cubarsi] was picking out passes for fun, he made it look so easy."
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He added:
"He was physical when he needed to be, for a Spanish centre-back to be as physical against somebody like Osimhen is quite rare. I thought his awareness, everything, he was just… 17 and his first start, he played ridiculously good."
The young defender was on his game from the opening minute when he made a crucial intervention to stop Osimhen from scoring. The teenager looked comfortable throughout and played some incredible passes from the deep.
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Barcelona overcame Napoli 3-1 in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League clash on Tuesday to reach the last eight of the competition.
The Catalans were dominant in the game, and took their chances clinically. Quickfire goals from Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo had them 2-0 up inside the opening 17 minutes of the match with the tie seemingly in the bag.
Amir Rrahmani pulled one back for the Partenopei in the 30th minute as Napoli threatened to come back into the match, but Xavi's side weathered the storm to remain in front on aggregate.
In the closing stages, Robert Lewandowski consolidated the victory with a third goal for the Blaugrana on the night.
