Barcelona throw shade at Spanish national team after Pau Cubarsí call-up
The young defender was a late addition to the squad
Barcelona received a very surprising bit of news on Wednesday when center-back Pau Cubarsí was called up by Spanish national team manager Luis de la Fuente as an injury replacement for Pau Torres for the Nations League matches against Denmark and Switzerland over the next week.
Cubarsí, who suffered a nasty cut after a kick to the face during the Champions League game away to Red Star Belgrade last week that required stitches and forced him to wear a mask in the weekend game against Real Sociedad, was originally left out of the national team squad due to the injury, and De La Fuente said “we always take care of our players” and “must not take any risks” before changing his mind less than a week later.
And it seems as though Barça remember those words. When announcing Cubarsí’s call-up on their official website on Wednesday, the Blaugrana left a very interesting note in the final paragraph that makes their feelings about the situation very clear.
“These two games will have little bearing on the future of Luis de la Fuente’s side during this Nations League group stage because Spain have already mathematically qualified for the next round and quarterfinals.”
So Barça are basically saying “these games mean absolutely nothing, and yet you’re still calling up a player you didn’t think was fit to play less than a week ago”, and they’re not wrong to feel that way.
One could argue that Cubarsí is actually fit to play for his country since he was able to play against Real Sociedad with a mask, but the simple truth is that Spain’s games don’t matter and that Cubarsí — or any other important player for Spain — doesn’t need to be risked.
And it was exactly a year ago, in a November game that didn’t matter for Spain, that Gavi suffered a devastating knee injury that took 11 months off his career. Barça and the national team still don’t see eye to eye because of that, and things would get really tense if a similar situation were to happen again.
Here’s hoping lightning doesn’t strike twice.