At 17 years and 62 days, Gavi is the youngest player to make his international debut for Spain. The more incredible part of his debut is that it hasn’t come in a ceremonial 90th minute substitution; the Andalusian was thrown straight into the fire by Luis Enrique. The former Barça manager trusted the teenager to start in the semi-final of the UEFA Nations League against an Italy side coming off a victory at the Euros.
As gloomy as being a Culer in the P.M.E (Post-Messi Era) is, Luis Enrique has given Barça fans closure about their future. It’s one thing to say that Ronald Koeman was forced to play his precocious young players because of the lack of other options, but it’s another thing altogether for the Spain manager to look at his pool and declare them good enough.
Two or three years ago it was assumed that Real Madrid held the key to Spain’s present and future, having all of Sergio Ramos, Jesús Vallejo, Nacho Fernández, Dani Ceballos, Isco, Marco Asensio, Brahim Díaz, and Álvaro Odriozola in their ranks. Barça, meanwhile, were left with Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Sergi Roberto to get call-ups after the retirements of Andrés Iniesta and Gerard Piqué from international duty.
Jump ahead to Gavi’s debut, and Barcelona can now boast fielding the youngest ever debut (Gavi), the third youngest debut and youngest ever goalscorer (Ansu Fati), and the youngest debut in a major tournament (Pedri at the Euros). Of the six youngest debuts in Spanish history, three of them currently play in the Barça first team – Gavi (2021), Ángel Zubieta (1936), Ansu Fati (2020), Bojan (2008), Pedro Regueiro (1928), and Pedri (2021). It may look like just numbers on a page and meaningless records, but having this collection of wunderkinds all in the same team at the same time is nothing short of remarkable.
It appears that Luis Enrique selected Gavi to start next to Sergio Busquets and Koke for the same reasons why Ronald Koeman thrust him into the first team. He has a knack for wanting the ball – both when his team has it and when they don’t. His movement behind Spain’s front three was essential to helping Spain control the middle while allowing the trio up top to utilize the wings. Every time Spain lost the ball, there was Gavi, fighting to win it back. He was fortunate not to collect a yellow on a physical challenge on Marco Verratti in the first half, but aside from one other tackle that could have been judged harshly, the 17-year-old was never out of line. Italy probably wishes that Leonardo Bonucci was that behaved after he picked up his first yellow.
Gavi committed two substantial errors in the game, one of which helped lead to Italy’s goal in the 83rd minute, just as he was exiting the match. The other came in the first half when his giveaway led to Federico Chiesa having a good chance at Spain’s net. Yet, even with those two errors, the positive more than outweighed the negative.
After the game it was circulating that Marco Verratti was Gavi’s idol, and if that’s the case, Pablo Martin Paez Gavira outplayed his idol. He completed 88.7% of his passes, but that number got better the closer he got to the opposing goal. It was 92.9% in the final third, going 37/38 in Italy’s half.
One can disparage the Nations League all they want, but Italy and Spain were both going for the win, as the line-ups suggested. Not only was the Nations League final on the line, but so was Italy’s 37-game unbeaten streak, which now ends at the hands of La Roja. Judging his performance by those stakes, you get the sense that this won’t be Gavi’s only cap.
Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017
