Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez, the 'insurmountable wall' that 'dried up' Kylian Mbappé

Pau Cubarsí and Iñigo Martínez are beginning to make us forget Ronald Araújo and Andreas Christensen. What seemed like an 'impossible mission' at the beginning of the season is now a more than concrete reality. The central duo is more consolidated than ever and at the Santiago Bernabéu they gave a real 'exhibition' in the advanced defence of FC Barcelona.

The Basque is the marshal of the defence, stellar in every sense. His leadership, security and solvency were present in each of his actions, and he crowned his great performance with an assist to Raphinha with a 40-metre run. The level of the former Athletic Club player is tremendous and, today, it is difficult to see him outside the starting eleven.

For his part, the youth player, who only visited the Santiago Bernabéu for the second time, gave a memorable performance. Attentive when it came to avoiding Vinicius' transitions, marking territory from the first minute, powerful in the air and bringing the ball out like an angel, at 17 years old he 'graduated' in the best possible scenario and showed that Barça has a centre-back for two decades.

Iñigo, very satisfied with the team's performance

At the end of the match, Iñigo appeared before the media and analysed the Catalans' 'beating' of the Merengues. "The first 15-20 minutes were difficult for us, Madrid was pressing... It was logical. But we overcame it. The team was very good... We are on a very good line, we hope to continue like this," he commented.

"With the ball we have always been a superior team to Madrid, what Madrid is good at is the counterattack"

Regarding the risky defensive approach of the Barça team, Martínez highlighted the coordination of the rearguard and spoke of their great present. "We've been doing well in terms of the line, Iñaki too... I feel very good, I've had a good pre-season, the manager trusts me. You have to get up from these situations and well, I'm fine, very good," he said.

Finally, he gave his feelings about the 'overwhelming' level of Barça under the orders of Hansi Flick and launched a 'dart' at the refereeing of the Clasico. "We really know what we're playing for, we're enjoying ourselves a lot both at the back and up front. At the beginning we were angry about refereeing issues, and then we concentrated on our own, and from there we started to work," he concluded.