Marc Cucurella: Chelsea ‘paid the price’ for inexperience and why Enzo Maresca should not have left | Soccer News

It’s a sunny afternoon at Las Rozas, the Spanish FA’s headquarters northwest of Madrid, ahead of their friendly against Serbia last Friday.

Spain’s training session has just ended. A handful of Luis de la Fuente’s players, including Martin Zubimendi, Pedri and goalkeeper David Raya, sunbathe on the pitch as they chat. Others, such as Crystal Palace’s Yeremy Pino and Osasuna’s national team debutant Victor Munoz, are working on shooting practice.

The 2024 European champions’ camp is a happy place. That’s largely down to head coach De la Fuente’s obsession with creating a strong bond among his players and prioritizing dressing room chemistry – with Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella key to creating that harmony.

“Coming to the national team is a breath of fresh air for everyone,” Cucurella told The Athletic in an exclusive interview, conducted before a 3-0 win against Serbia in Villarreal. “Sometimes it feels like the games we have to play aren’t even the most important thing — you just want to spend time with these people. We’ve created such strong relationships that the week goes by before you even realize it.”

For Cucurella, however, there is an additional need to reset with Spain.

Chelsea’s recent form has been difficult for the 27-year-old to come to terms with – with Liam Rosenior’s side winning just four of their last 12 games while losing six times. They have been beaten in each of their past four, including by a three-goal margin in both legs of their Champions League round of 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain.

“Sometimes, if you’re in good shape, an international break can kill your momentum a little bit,” says Cucurella. “But this one will do us (Chelsea) good at club level.”

Being knocked out by PSG – they suffered an 8-2 aggregate defeat against Luis Enrique’s reigning European champions – was the one that really stung.

“We didn’t have experience,” says Cucurella. “For many players it was the first time playing a game of that caliber, and we paid the price.

“You can always make a mistake, but we should have handled it better. There was a return game to play, and if you keep your cool, you go back to London with a 3-2 defeat (the score with five minutes of normal time left in the first leg) and anything can happen. We made a mistake, tried to attack without a clear structure and then PSG took the chance and proved they have that edge.”

Cucurella is a respected voice in the Chelsea dressing room. This is his fourth season with them, joining Brighton & Hove Albion following the May 2022 takeover by Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Capital consortium. This puts him in a privileged position to evaluate the state of the BlueCo project.

There is little optimism surrounding the west London club at the moment – with the woes over their Champions League exit compounded by Enzo Fernandez casting doubt on his Chelsea future after that PSG defeat. Cucurella doesn’t want to talk about his teammate’s situation, choosing instead to focus on what happened in that tie.

“Such results are always hard to take,” says Cucurella. “You fight and train every day only to realize at the very end that when games matter, we are still a little bit away from the top level.

“I understand that this is part of the club’s policy, and that they want to go in this direction – sign young players and look to the future. But, for all of us who are still here and want to win big things, moments like this make you feel discouraged.

“We have a good core of players. The foundations are there. But to fight for big trophies like the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more. Getting young players can only complicate the achievement of those goals. Against PSG, we lacked players who have gone through such situations.

“You also need time, and I know the young players are the ones who will have the experience in the future. But you have to find the balance between both worlds.”

“Maresca shouldn’t have left”

In addition, there has been this season’s managerial drama: with Enzo Maresca going from overseeing a Club World Cup final in July to being out of a job within six months, before Rosenior’s arrival as his replacement in January. Cucurella defends the work done so far by the former Strasbourg coach.

“Liam is a very good person and was great in dealing with the group, the characters,” he says. “He likes to stay close to us and his footballing ideas are good, but we don’t have the time to train them.

“We train on (play in) competitive matches because we play every three days and that leaves you no time to work on the training ground. In this context, it’s normal that sometimes your plans don’t work out, and then we go through difficult moments.

“With Enzo Maresca in charge, we were more stable because we worked together for 18 months. If you look at our first pre-season with him (Chelsea won just once in six warm-up friendlies, lost three), there were doubts. You need a process for each player to understand what we have to do. In our last months with Maresca, we almost played by heart. If we knew what we had to do the system.

“Now look at Arsenal, who are fighting for every trophy. They’ve been with (Mikel) Arteta for almost seven years and they haven’t won much. But that trust in the project gives rewards.”

Maresca’s exit just after New Year was a turning point in the BlueCo project, but also in the Chelsea dressing room. Cucurella says the Italian was “the most important” of the six permanent managers he worked under at Stamford Bridge.

“We knew what Maresca wanted from us,” he says. “Winning a title like the Club World Cup (beating PSG 3-0 in the final) also helps, it strengthens the bond, and you create great relationships during the celebrations. When a manager gives you that confidence and gives you a platform to fight for titles, you’ll die for him.

“The moment Maresca left, it had a big impact on us. These decisions are made by the club. If you asked me, I would not have made this decision. To make such a change, the best thing is to wait until the end of the season. You will give everyone, the players and the new manager, time to prepare, to have a full pre-season…

“The instability around the club comes out of this, in a nutshell. First we had a caretaker (former Under-21s coach Calum McFarlane), then a new manager, with new ideas and no time to work on them. It is what it is.”

The Chelsea squad had to find new ways to stay focused and united – and one of those was their now infamous pre-match scuffle in the center circle. Cucurella says it was a backroom staff idea meant to project the idea of ​​a strong team.

“This is something that all the players decided to do before the games, following the advice of a coach,” he says. “We have a coach in the backroom staff who helps us to be better from the mental side as well. Since we don’t have profiles of experienced players, he gives us tips to portray the image of a better team.”

Cucurella: Tierney ‘wants his moment’

On referee Paul Tierney finding himself in the middle of their pre-matches ahead of the recent game against Newcastle United, Cucurella says: “I chose not to speak. To me it was a lack of respect. He could have come and told us: ‘Look, you can’t do it for this reason’. But instead he got in the middle and stayed in the middle. I honestly didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. moment.”

Cucurella’s frustration with the situation at Chelsea reflects a player who has gone from a misfit at Stamford Bridge to a crucial part of the club’s long-term future – last summer he signed a contract extension until 2028.

Similar thing happened with the national team. Cucurella made the squad for the 2024 European Championship due to injuries to other left-backs, with Valencia’s Jose Luis Gaya and Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde both on the sidelines.

He went from an emergency call-up to being among De la Fuente’s starters in a matter of weeks, then became one of the biggest names in a victorious campaign in Germany. He is now the undisputed first choice in his position ahead of this summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“It was so fun to live this process,” says Cucurella. “I’m excited to be in every squad list. It’s not easy to be here – the talent we have is unreal – and to see this path, coming in as a prospect and now being a trusted part of the team, makes me feel proud.”

He is brutally honest when asked if Spain are favorites to win this year’s World Cup, where they will face Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and tournament debutants Cape Verde in the group stage.

“Yes, I think so,” he replied. “We have earned the right to make people believe in us. We were a bit overlooked at the last Euros. The team is now full of hope for the World Cup. De la Fuente tells us to stay true to ourselves, to trust in our abilities and to keep working on the basics that made us European champions.”

He sees England as one of their toughest opponents and appreciates the work their new head coach Thomas Tuchel, his first Chelsea manager, has done: “They’ve always had a great team, and now Tuchel will give them a bit better tactical structure. We’ve seen the good work he’s done at PSG and Chelsea. England will be a team to watch closely.

“There’s a lot of talent at the World Cup. The players I don’t like defending against? I’d say the likes of (England forward and Chelsea teammate) Cole Palmer, Michael Olise or Ousmane Dembele (both from France). They were some of the toughest attackers I’ve come across. Jeremie Frimpong (Liverpool) is so fast too!

“Everyone talks so much about what it means to be at a World Cup. I just can’t wait to be a part of one.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletics.
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