LONDON. Lamine Yamal turned his latest individual triumph into a tribute to Pau Cubarsí, saying his Barcelona and Spain teammate deserved the young talent award.
The 19-year-old collected his third consecutive honour at Monday’s Ballon d’Or ceremony in London, before highlighting the defender’s sustained excellence.
“I would have liked Cubarsí to have won, he deserves it, he has been great for a long time,” Yamal said.
Cubarsí’s achievements offer substance to that endorsement, particularly his contribution to Spain’s World Cup triumph and Barcelona’s successful defence of their domestic titles.
The centre-back played every minute of Spain’s victorious World Cup campaign, earning the tournament’s Best Young Player award after a 1–0 final victory over Argentina.
Alongside Aymeric Laporte, Cubarsí helped Spain concede only once throughout the tournament, against Belgium in the quarter-finals.
That international success followed another demanding season at Barcelona, where he made 48 appearances across all competitions, including 45 starts.
Barcelona retained La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup, while Cubarsí scored his first league goal for the club with a header against Girona.
His latest honours added to the league, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup treble from 2024/25, alongside Olympic gold with Spain at Paris 2024.
Yamal’s own achievements nevertheless presented a formidable case, with the forward recording 24 goals and 18 assists in 45 Barcelona appearances last season.
He was also named La Liga’s best player and helped Spain win the World Cup, appearing in all eight matches and scoring once.
His performances secured third place in the main Ballon d’Or rankings, behind winner Harry Kane and runner-up Kylian Mbappé.
Having first claimed the young talent honour in 2024 and retained it in 2025, Yamal became its first three-time consecutive winner.