FCBEscola Barcelona graduate Àlex Carbonell became the third player from the soccer school, after Sergi Samper and Martí Riverola, to make his first team debut for Barça when Luis Enrique named him in the Copa del Rey round of 16 match away to Hércules and which ended 1-1. The youngster was on for 68 minutes before being substituted by André Gomes.
The 19-year-old Barça B midfileder entered the school at U10 level, later progressing to the U12 team at La Masía. He would then move to Cornellà, which was where he also switched from formerly being a full back. He returned to FC Barcelona in 2013 to play for the U18B team.
Carbonell’s performance went down very well in the local press after being one of five debutants in Alicante, the others being Nili, Marc Cardona, Carlos Aleñá and Borja López. Another member of the reserve team, Marlon, also featured after making his official debut in the Champions League against Celtic.
FCBEscola project director Franc Carbó said afterwards that “we are so proud that players that started out here can progress to the first team. That clearly shows that we are doing things well”.
