Lamine Yamal Says Pau Cubarsí Deserved Ballon d’Or Young Player Award

Yamal turns an individual award into a tribute to Cubarsí

Lamine Yamal used his third appearance at the Ballon d’Or young player award ceremony to make a case for someone else: Barcelona teammate Pau Cubarsí. Yamal won the 2026 Men’s Young Player of the Year award, but said Cubarsí’s performances made him more deserving. The moment gave the ceremony a note of generosity, while also drawing attention to a defender whose work can be less visible than an attacker’s.

Lamine Yamal said: “It is an honour to be here and receive this prize. I would have liked to see my teammate Cubarsi here because I think this prize should have been for him. He has been playing at an excellent level for some time. This is my third year up here for this prize. I would like to thank my club and my national team. Speaking about this one specifically, this one should have been for Cubarsí.”

Yamal’s remarks were more than a quick thank-you to a teammate. He identified Cubarsí’s sustained level of play as the reason the defender should have received the prize, then returned to that point after acknowledging Barcelona and Spain’s national team. That repetition makes the praise hard to read as a passing courtesy.

There’s a familiar tension in awards for young players: they recognize individual achievement, but football depends on work that doesn’t always translate into the most memorable moments. Goals, dribbles and assists are easy to single out. A defender’s anticipation, positioning and calm decisions can be just as influential, though they’re often harder to capture in a short highlight or a headline.

A rare moment of recognition between teammates

Yamal thanked Barcelona and Spain’s national team for backing his development, then returned to Cubarsí’s claim. His point was specific: the defender had sustained a high level over time and, in Yamal’s view, should have taken the award.

The endorsement reflects how quickly both players have become central to Barcelona’s plans. Yamal has established himself as a creative force in attack for club and country, while Cubarsí’s composure, defensive judgment and ability on the ball have earned him a place in the first team. They contribute in different ways, but both have become part of the same broader story about Barcelona’s young talent.

That distinction matters. Attackers tend to receive attention when they make something happen; defenders often earn trust by preventing problems from developing. Cubarsí’s qualities, as described here, point to the second kind of contribution: reading danger, choosing when to intervene and helping the team keep possession. Those skills can shape a match without producing a single obvious headline moment.

Yamal’s public support also says something about how teammates assess one another. A young winner could have kept the moment focused on his own achievement. Instead, he used the platform to argue that a colleague’s consistency deserved more recognition. A modest gesture, perhaps. Still, it gives the award speech a second subject—and a more revealing one.

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Barcelona’s next generation

Yamal’s award adds to a run of individual recognition since his rise to Barcelona’s senior side. Cubarsí’s steady performances have made him a reliable presence in defense, and Yamal’s comments give a public measure of the esteem he holds among his peers.

For Barcelona, the pair represent two different tests of a young player’s development. Yamal’s attacking role puts creativity and decision-making in the open; Cubarsí’s defensive role demands concentration and judgment across the match. Neither profile is simple, and neither player’s progress can be judged from one ceremony or one season alone. The award marks a moment in Yamal’s career, while his endorsement points toward the value he sees in Cubarsí’s ongoing contribution.

This is more significant than it looks. Peer recognition can add texture to a player’s public reputation, especially when it comes from someone who shares the training ground and matchday pressure. It doesn’t settle the question of who deserved the award, but it gives readers a useful clue about how Cubarsí’s work is viewed inside the team. And this is the part most people overlook: consistency is often most visible to the people relying on it.

The ceremony also recognized Spain and Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Unai Simón as goalkeeper of the year, while Spain coach Luis De La Fuente was named manager of the year. Barcelona will be watching how its two young standouts build on their progress in the seasons ahead.

For Yamal, the next challenge is to keep converting early recognition into sustained performance. For Cubarsí, the challenge is different: to maintain the reliability that Yamal singled out while continuing to grow into his role. If you’re following Barcelona’s younger players, the useful question isn’t simply who collects the next trophy. It’s whether both can keep meeting the demands their current prominence brings.

There’s no need to treat one gracious speech as a forecast. It’s a snapshot of how one teammate sees another, offered on a night when Yamal had every reason to talk about himself. That said, the contrast between an individual prize and a public vote of confidence in a teammate makes the moment linger. A defender’s case, stated plainly.

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