touches and a certain feeling of uneasiness . From that day on , Lamine has always played on the right and when it has been necessary to change the profile of a forward , the one chosen to go has always been someone else before him . At his age , he has also worked on his muscles to adapt his body to efforts more demanding than the ones to which he was accustomed . And the results have been very positive . The youth team player went from an average of 3.41 recoveries every 90 minutes in his first ten matches in the first team to an average of 5.00 by the end of the season .
PAU CUBARSÍ The other great breakthrough , that of Pau Cubarsí , has also had Xavi ’ s timely complicity . In this case , he made his debut against Unionistes in the Copa del Rey , coming on after the injury to Andreas Christensen . The Danish player ’ s absence meant that he also made his league debut at a very difficult ground in the Benito Villamarín .
He proceeded to do so with a personality that belied his age . Afterwards , he was included in four starting line-ups : Osasuna , Alavès , Granada and Celta . Right at the peak of his performance , with the arrival of the decisive Champions League knockout match against Naples , Xavi reserved him in the duel at the Stadio San Paolo . He was the centre-back in the best form , but a possible bad performance in the top European competition would have been an obstacle for his self-esteem in the process of settling in the first team . The decision was a very well-placed barrier of protection for Cubarsí , as can be seen by the fact that , from then on , he racked up fifteen starting line-ups out of the possible seventeen .
Tactically , the Terrassa-born coach fielded Cubarsí more as a centre-back than as a rightback in his hybrid 4-3-3 system . However , when he played alongside Íñigo Martínez in the team ( against Granada , Mallorca , Las Palmas , Real Societat , Almeria , Rayo Vallecano and Seville ), he
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