What Were You Doing at 17?
What Were You Doing at 17?
Surely something different from what Pau Cubarsí is doing.
The podcast is off this week, but Pau Cubarsí was not. My dreams of becoming a professional athlete were well and truly cooked by the time I was 17, but the same cannot be said for this Catalan born in January 2007. This kid started at center back for FC Barcelona against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, the youngest defender ever to feature in a Champions League quarterfinal, and he didn’t look out of place one bit. PSG enjoyed a spell at the beginning of the second half where they ran rampant at the Parc des Princes, but for the most part, it was a calm and controlled and courageous performance from the teenager.
Cubarsí showed the pace and power and timing to stay with and slide in on Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé. No one has yet dribbled past him in two full Champions League matches. His positioning and ability to read the game allowed him to cut out their runs in behind, stepping in calmly to break up PSG’s forward passes. But perhaps most impressively of all, he was a legitimate playmaker at center back who sent scything passes through one or multiple Parisian lines, splitting them and taking two or three or four players out of the game as he picked out a teammate on the half turn. Rarely would you find him playing the ball out of bounds or hopefully into an area.
This is modern defending at the highest level, the type of play William Saliba and Virgil Van Dijk are lauded for week in, week out, but this was a Champions League night and a young man who’s technically too young to order a beer, even in the freewheeling partyscape of Barcelona. He’s not the only such story in Xavi’s Barcelona team, of course: Lamine Yamal, who started here and regularly starts on the right wing for the Spanish national team, is still 16. But a center back? Preposterous.
Anyway, onto the headlines and the matches. The weekend is a bit short on derbies outside of the Mole in Italy, but Arsenal-Aston Villa headlines a more-than-decent slate of Premier League showdowns.
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THE HEADLINES
➡️In the Champions League this week: Arsenal 2-2 Bayern Munich; Real Madrid 3-3 Manchester City; Atlético Madrid 2-1 Borussia Dortmund; PSG 2-3 Barcelona.
➡️In the Europa League, Liverpool got smoked at Anfield 3-0 by Atalanta in a stunning setback for Jürgen Klopp and his team’s treble quest with just over a month to go in his tenure as manager. Daniele De Rossi’s tenure at the helm of Roma gets better and better, as his side won 1-0 at the San Siro—their first win over A.C. Milan since 2019.
➡️Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten season continued against West Ham on Thursday with a 2-0 victory in which they had a greater number of shots (33) than the Hammers had possession (27). Xabi Alonso’s side have now played 42, won 36, lost zero.
➡️The 20 Premier League clubs voted unanimously to introduce semi-automated offsides technology next season, the first step towards TFW’s recommended Automatic Perimeter Officiating.
➡️Sheffield United are the latest Premier League team to receive a points deduction for alleged financial improprieties, but their punishment is from the Football League. They’ll start at -2 points in the Championship next season.
➡️Luis Suárez is back on his bullshit, getting into some nastiness off the ball when Inter Miami met Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions Cup this week.
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SATURDAY
NEWCASTLE vs TOTTENHAM
7:30am ET, 12:30pm GMT
Champions League-chasing Tottenham head up to St. James’ Park for the first of many challenging fixtures they’ll need to navigate if they want to rub shoulders with the giants next season. After this, it’s Arsenal then Chelsea then Liverpool, but first it’s the Magpies, and these points won’t come free, either. After a somewhat miserable season, Eddie Howe’s squad is crackling into some decent form and making a run at the European places. If results go their way this weekend, they could end it sixth in the table.
MAN CITY vs LUTON TOWN
10am ET, 3pm GMT
The potential romance here is substantial: title-chasing City, prohibitive favorites, are condemned to stunning defeat by scrappy Luton Town, fighting for survival in this league. The reality is likely to be ruthless and remorseless domination by the Citizens, but it’s worth tuning in for at least the first half. If things go sideways for the Hatters, you can always switch over to FOREST vs WOLVES or BURNLEY vs BRIGHTON.
TORINO vs JUVENTUS
12pm ET, 5pm GMT
The Derby della Mole has some unusual stakes this year. Torino have struggled to score goals, with just 31 all season, but they’ve also conceded just 29 and find themselves ninth in the table, four points off cursed champions Napoli in seventh. They’re just about in the hunt for a Europa Conference League place, while crosstown enemies Juventus are trying to hold onto a ticket to the Champions League next season.
The black-and-white giants have fallen far from the days when they were challenging Inter Milan’s procession to the Scudetto a few months back, and now they’ve taken just 10 points from the last 30 available. A 1-0 win over Fiorentina last week was essential, but they need another result here for more than just local bragging rights. Their seven-point cushion over fifth-placed Roma should be enough with seven matches to go, but not if they keep losing matches while Daniele De Rossi’s team chugs along smoothly.
BOURNEMOUTH vs MAN UNITED
12:30pm ET, 5:30pm GMT
Manchester United secured a good result against a great team last time out, so it’s about time they conjured up a catastrophe. Erik ten Hag’s team simply cannot be trusted to perform at a high level with consistency, and they’ve taken one point from their last three away matches. For their part, Bournemouth are an enigmatic and streaky bunch. A poor start was followed by a stunning run of positive results, then a downturn, and now another fairly decent period. Before the 2-1 defeat to Luton Town last week, they’d won four of their last five and drawn the other. They’ve also won three straight at the Vitality Stadium.
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THE KITMAN
As we continue our tour of national team kit drops, I’m digging these Canada away shirts that seem to only be available at resellers like Dick’s or WorldSoccerShop. I’m a fan of the stripes but even more so the sleeve-ends:
The swoosh is also unusually designed, and while I don’t love these collars that have featured on a lot of Nike national-team numbers this year, the blood-red flanks are another nice touch. Plus, have we been sleeping on the pure beauty of the Canada Soccer logo?
Along the same lines, Macron served up some extra freshness with these Albania aways that you can check out in Germany this summer at EURO 2024:
The sneaky double-headed eagle faded into the front is a nice touch, but the trimming—something like a posh summer polo, but gothified—is the difference-maker.
By the way, the Albanians are in Group B with Spain, Croatia, and Italy—oh my.
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SUNDAY
LIVERPOOL vs CRYSTAL PALACE
9am ET, 2pm GMT
Act Two of the title-race play sees Liverpool host plucky Palace at Anfield. The visitors are not entirely out of relegation trouble yet, particularly considering they’ve taken two points from their last five matches. A result here would be a godsend, and Liverpool are coming off that stinging defeat to Atalanta just a few days prior, but all signs point towards a drubbing. The forecast is partly cloudy with a Mo Salah brace.
ARSENAL vs ASTON VILLA
11:30am ET, 4:30pm GMT
And then: Act Three. Arsenal have the toughest assignment this weekend among the three title challengers, hosting a Villa side that beat them in the reverse fixture in December and remains firmly in the hunt for the Top Four. A poor run over their last five matches has seen Unai Emery’s side fall behind Tottenham on goal difference, but the Spaniard will be eager to get one over on his former employers and stop his replacement, Mikel Arteta, from completing the transformation from mediocrity to Premier League champions.
Arsenal had a difficult time with Bayern Munich in midweek, but they’ve been imperious in the league this calendar year: 11 matches played, zero defeats, 38 goals scored, four conceded.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN vs WERDER BREMEN
11:30am ET, 4:30pm GMT
You could also choose to bear witness to Leverkusen’s historic campaign in this match window. They get results, but Florian Wirtz and Co. are also a joy to watch.
MONDAY
CHELSEA vs EVERTON
3pm ET, 8pm GMT
It’s a strange kind of financial derby here: Everton, who’ve been repeatedly sanctioned for spending beyond their means, and Chelsea, who have spent insanely with no repercussions. So far, that is: the Blues reportedly may need to engineer a fire sale by June 30 to get right with the authorities. In the meantime, Mauricio Pochettino will hunt results to prove he’s the man to steer this £1 billion ship.⚽︎