{"id":101512,"date":"2026-04-08T16:58:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/lamine-yamal-pau-cubarsi-among-academy-graduates-powering-barcelonas-champions-league-push-as-xavi-garcia-pimienta-explains-la-masias-success-football-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:59:14","slug":"lamine-yamal-pau-cubarsi-among-academy-graduates-powering-barcelonas-champions-league-push-as-xavi-garcia-pimienta-explains-la-masias-success-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/lamine-yamal-pau-cubarsi-among-academy-graduates-powering-barcelonas-champions-league-push-as-xavi-garcia-pimienta-explains-la-masias-success-football-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi among academy graduates powering Barcelona’s Champions League push as Xavi Garcia Pimienta explains La Masia’s success | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Barcelona face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals this week having made history in the round of 16. Their 7-2 second-leg win at home to Newcastle was the biggest by a Spanish side against an English opponent in 60 years.<\/p>\n

Robert Lewandowski played his part. Even at 37 the goals continue to flow. But the result was achieved with the club’s youngest team in knockout history, its average age brought down to 25 years and 18 days by the inclusion of five players from their La Masia<\/em> academy.<\/p>\n

By fielding Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Marc Bernal among those five, Barcelona overtook Ajax as the club to have given the most starts to teenagers in the Champions League knockout stages. They used another from the bench in Xavi Espart.<\/p>\n

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Lamine Yamal produced a sensational piece of skill and an outside-of-the-foot pass during Barcelona’s 2-1 win away to Atletico Madrid<\/span>
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Together with Yamal, Cubarsi, Bernal and others including Fermin Lopez, Gavi and Eric Garcia, Espart, an 18-year-old midfielder likened to Philippe Lahm by manager Hansi Flick, is one of 14 players from their academy to have featured at senior level this season.<\/p>\n

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A CIES Football Observatory study in January determined that Barcelona’s under-contract academy graduates have a transfer value nearly three times as high as any other club’s in the world.<\/p>\n

Xavi Garcia Pimienta has watched them flourish proudly.<\/p>\n

The 51-year-old, who most recently worked as Sevilla’s head coach, has Barcelona in his blood and a unique understanding of the inner workings of La Masia<\/em> developed over the course of three decades, first as a player, then during a 17-year spell as a coach.<\/p>\n

He won the UEFA Youth League with Barcelona’s U19s in 2018, beating Chelsea in the final, and was even talked about as a candidate to succeed Ernesto Valverde and Ronald Koeman at first-team level having impressed as head coach of Bar\u00e7a B.<\/p>\n

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\n Xavi Garcia Pimienta guided Barcelona’s U19s to UEFA Youth League success in 2018
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He still feels a deep affinity with the club. “I feel very connected to the fact Barcelona has so many homegrown players in the first team right now,” he tells Sky Sports<\/em>. “It’s an honour for me because I’ve been part of that process too, both as a player and a coach.<\/p>\n

“These players are demonstrating the level that they have, with the clear way of playing that of course came with Johan Cruyff and has been maintained and perfected ever since at a club where it’s not just about winning, but also how<\/em> you win.”<\/p>\n

Why La Masia is unique<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Cruyff is of course inextricably linked with modern-day Barcelona having reshaped the club’s identity and playing style following his appointment as manager in 1988 with a set of principles which included a commitment to developing players from La Masia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“There is a before and after Cruyff,” says Garcia Pimienta.<\/p>\n

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Lamine Yamal scored Barcelona’s winner in their recent victory over Rayo Vallecano<\/span>
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“Bar\u00e7a was a great club like many others but Cruyff’s way of training and his way of understanding of the game became established and his methodology was used at every level of the club.<\/p>\n

“So, what these players are now doing in the Bar\u00e7a first team, they were doing three or four years ago in the youth ranks, which I think is the foundation of everything.<\/p>\n

“There have been times when Bar\u00e7a have had first-team coaches with a different profile, but from Bar\u00e7a B down, everyone has always trained and played the same way and that helps create the sense of belonging which I believe is what makes it special.<\/p>\n

“For example, now we are seeing videos of Cubarsi, Lamine and Marc Bernal playing together when they were 10 years old in the academy.<\/p>\n

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\n La Masia product Marc Bernal celebrates after scoring for Barcelona against Newcastle
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“Imagine the process of growing up together and going through each age group together every season. The dream is to one day arrive in the first team and they’ve managed it. Imagine what it means to these players to play for the club of their lives.<\/p>\n

“And as we have seen, Barcelona has been doing excellent work in this regard for a long time. Almost every time they put an emerging talent from their academy into their first-team squad, they end up managing to make the step up.”<\/p>\n

Garcia Pimienta uses the example of the all-conquering Barcelona teams of Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique which were dominated by players from La Masia<\/em>, many of whom he coached himself, including Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas.<\/p>\n

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\n Barcelona opened the refurbished Spotify Camp Nou against Athletic Club in November
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“The best days of Barcelona,” he says. “A full stadium and a first team made up of players made in the academy.”<\/p>\n

He now sees parallels with Flick’s team as they aim to repeat the successes of those generations. “It comes back to that feeling of belonging,” he says. “‘I am a Bar\u00e7a fan, and on top of that I’ve reached a Bar\u00e7a first team which is competing to win everything.'”<\/p>\n

Intelligence over physicality<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The success of La Masia<\/em> depends on opportunity at first-team level but youth recruitment and talent identification are also key. Everything is geared towards nurturing players with the attributes Barcelona’s short-passing, possession-dominant style demands.<\/p>\n

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Highlights from Barcelona’s win over Atletico Madrid in LaLiga on Saturday<\/span>
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“The players we scouted were always players with the profile of understanding the game, who could grasp what we were going to teach them here, so that the day they reach the first team, that is the football they know how to play,” says Garcia Pimienta.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s another key difference with other clubs. They really believe in their methodology and they try to recruit players with the ability to understand the game.”<\/p>\n

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\n Bar\u00e7a is based on talent, on thinking, on being intelligent, on positioning, on always training with the ball<\/span><\/p>\n