At the end of January, he turned 18 and, after 16-18 classes, he got his driver's license. Pau Cubarsí (Girona, 18 years old) is one of the most striking appearances, perhaps alongside Lamine Yamal and Asencio, on the Spanish scene in the last year and a half. Raised in a village that spans 350 meters from its entrance to its exit, with less than 200 inhabitants, named Estanyol, in the mountains of Girona, he expresses himself better in Catalan than in Spanish, but in either language, one can sense a well-mannered and slightly humorous young man who, due to shyness, does not dominate the conversation. He looks like a starter in the match against the Netherlands that he can't handle. And talking to him, even though he is one of the stars of Barça and the national team, is like talking to a kid. And it's amusing because when discussing the carpentry business that his family has had since 1905, he is clear. Very clear.
QUESTION. How are you?
ANSWER. Recovering well after Sunday, thank you.
Q. How many days do your legs hurt after a match?
A. The pain lasts one or two days, which is what we usually have between matches. By the third day, you have to play, so you are fully prepared for the next one.
Q. Of course, being 18 years old.
A. Well, of course! When I'm older, we'll see.
Q. Do people recognize you on the street?
A. Yes, sometimes. In my city, Girona, I go unnoticed more often. Also, because I'm with my friends, and since we all have the same hairstyle, they recognize me less. That helps me blend in, which is sometimes not bad.
Q. Does the trend of everyone wearing their hair like a flame 'pay off', as you say?
A. It's the hairstyle of today. I've had many hairstyles already! Shaved to zero and some others, like the pompadour. Now we're with this one, and well, until the next one comes out.
Q. So you say it helps you stay incognito.
A. Of course, because we all wear our hair forward like this...
Q. When or what day did you realize you were famous?
A. One of the first days I was walking down the street, shortly after my debut, and someone asked me for a photo. The first thing that came out of my mouth was: 'But... me?'.
Q. You look very shy.
A. Well. When I'm with my friends, with my trusted people, I'm more fun. But it's true that when I don't know the people I'm with very well, it's hard for me.
Q. Your father has a carpentry business, a family business that started in 1905.
A. Yes, yes, my great-grandfather started it, then my grandfather, and now my father and my uncle. It's the family business.
Q. Do you know about carpentry?
A. Not knowledge as such, but I've helped my father some summers, and when I was little, I spent the summer tinkering around there, probably more annoying than helping.
Q. I say this because if you hadn't been a footballer, maybe...
A. Well, if football doesn't go well someday, carpentry is always there, that's for sure [laughs].
Q. What do you learn from seeing how a business is run?A. When you see your parents work so hard to support the family, when you see the effort they make to ensure their children are well, that becomes a reference for you. My parents have worked very hard.
Q. Does that make you more aware of how privileged you are?
A. Yes, I know I'm privileged. In football, of course, look where I am at my age, but I'm also very grateful for the values my family has instilled in me since I was young.
A. Never lose humility, keep your feet on the ground, be a good person, and always surround yourself with people who love you.
Q. And if you don't do that someday, what will happen?
A. I might get a scolding from my mother because my mother is my mother, and she keeps a close eye on me to keep me on the right path.
Q. Do you ever stop to think that in a year you will probably earn more money than your whole family has in a long time?
A. Yes, but I don't focus much on money. I want to play what I love, nothing more. I don't think about money, fame, or anything that comes with football.
Q. What does your family mean to you?
A. They mean everything. When you're feeling down, you lean on them. When you're doing well, you want to enjoy it with them. They are proud of me, and I am proud of them.
Q. Have you fought a lot with your sister Irene?
A. Yes, yes. The typical squabbles of children. But now, it's great to have someone like her close by. We have both matured.
Q. Do you stop for everyone who asks?
A. Yes, of course, it makes me very happy when a child asks me for a photo or an autograph. Because when I was young, I would have liked it if someone did it for me.
Q. Did you ask for many autographs when you were young? When you were younger, I mean.
A. I didn't see many famous people back then, but if I had, I would have asked, of course.
Q. Did you recently get your driver's license?
A. Yes, yes.
Q. And what car did you buy or are you going to buy?
A. I bought a car for my parents, and I kept theirs. Barça also provides a car, but I kept my parents'.
Q. I ask because Nico Williams mentioned that his mother didn't let him buy a flashy car. Do you like cars?
A. Yes, I saw Nico during the Euros. I don't want to buy a high-horsepower car now; it wouldn't make sense. When the years pass, and my mother approves, I'll buy a good one.
Q. What indulgence have you allowed yourself since turning professional?
A. A watch that we, the winners of the Paris Games, got, being able to take my friends to watch the final of the Games. There were seven of them, my lifelong friends. My parents' car and a few other things. Some vacations, dinners, meals, and not much else.
Q. Where did you go on vacation?
A. We rented an apartment with friends in Playa de Aro.
Q. Someone who knows you well told me yesterday: 'he's a village boy.' Was he wrong?
A. I get told that a lot because I exude peace and tranquility.
Q. Sometimes being from a village is used pejoratively.
A. I'm not bothered at all by being called a village boy.
Q. I read that you used to take kids from La Masía who were not from Barcelona home on weekends.
A. Sometimes, yes. With kids like Dani Ávila or Andrés Cuenca, so they wouldn't always be at La Masia.
Q. Are you going to keep living in La Masia for a long time?
A. For the remainder of the season, yes, because with my studies [I'm in my Second year of Baccalaureate] from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m., it's a bit absurd to wake up early to train and then drive back at around eight in the evening.
Q. You speak like all kids your age: 'in plan', 'obviously'...
A. Of course, you have to adapt to the times. Almost everyone talks like that.
Q. Tell me the truth. Since you got the scar next to your mouth, do you attract more attention from girls? Like a bad boy...
A. Well, the truth is it doesn't look that bad, right? Honestly, no. I attract the same amount of attention with the scar as without it [laughs].
Q. And the Netherlands, what about them?
A. They are a great team, but we also have a good team. Besides, we are a family, and we have to take advantage of that.