Marc Cucurella explains what Chelsea must do against PSG as he eyes round three with Ousmane Dembele

Daily Mail​

16 hours ago

Watch Ousmane Dembele when Chelsea take one of their short goal kicks on Sunday night. The Paris Saint-Germain striker's stance will be practically primal, similar to a sprinter eager to eat up his 100 metres, primed to chase that ball as if it is the last one left on the planet.
Marc Cucurella cites Dembele as the toughest opponent he has ever faced and the Spaniard says that as someone who has twice stopped the supersonic 28-year-old from scoring when he was in his territory on France's right wing.
First in the Euro 2024 semi-final won 2-1 by Spain and then in the Nations League final, a 5-4 victory in which there is a picture of Cucurella shouting down at a decked Dembele like Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston.
Now, the trilogy. Dembele will start as PSG's striker in the Club World Cup final being held here in the shadow of New York City but chances are the favourite for the next Ballon d'Or will drift into Cucurella territory on occasion.
Chelsea's left back is not frightened, however. In fact, we find him giggling after arriving at the lobby of their five-star hotel, The Peninsula, for this interview.
That is because we have asked him how he went from being booed by his own fans for being so bad to booed by opposing fans for being so good.
'They don't leave me alone, no one, never!' Cucurella says of rival sides' supporters, laughing. 'But it's good. I know when they do this, it's because we're going through or if they're going to lose the game.'
Cucurella was with Getafe then Brighton before joining Chelsea for £55million rising to £62m, and on his initial issues with the supporters who now cheerfully sing 'he eats paella, he drinks Estrella, his hair is f***ing massive', he continues: 'It was tough at the beginning because I'm not a player that has the quality to take the ball and change the game. I understood that the club paid a lot of money for me so they expect I'm a machine and I score every game!
'Before Chelsea, I played more in small clubs so you don't feel this pressure. So it was like, if we win, I'm very happy. If we draw, it's another point, don't get relegated. But when you come here, you feel like you need to win every game.
'I don't feel like I enjoyed (my early time at Chelsea) because when you join here, it's like, 'You win, OK, it's your job' and you don't celebrate. It's difficult to feel this pressure. I'm the same player I was when I signed but now I have more confidence. I trust my quality. It's an important thing to learn in the big clubs.
'It was difficult because in the first months, I was like, 'Oh f***ing hell'. I enjoyed it more at other clubs because when you win, you are happy all week. But if you are at a big club, you need to understand this. Here you need to win every game because at the end of the season, you want to play for trophies and finals.'
Cucurella adds he takes no notice of the barbs aimed at him from the stands, the Sideshow Bob comparisons and all that. Chelsea's players watched PSG's 4-0 win over Real Madrid in the semi-finals but, again, Cucurella insists they are not scared of taking on Luis Enrique's world beaters and he is confident they can pocket Dembele as he has done previously.
'Madrid made two big mistakes in two minutes which changed the game completely and it was hot as well so that put the game in PSG's favour,' he says. Indeed, Chelsea are going into this game with a plan to try to have their share of possession, despite Enrique's side tending to dominate whenever they play. The reason? The humidity will exhaust the side without the ball.
Cucurella concedes PSG are the best team in the world but then, anything can happen. 'A final is a final,' he reminds us. 'We are ready for the game. They have good players but we have good players. It will be a difficult match. It will be 50/50. We will have our chances as well.
'When I arrived at this club, it was difficult. We know Chelsea is a big club. This manager has arrived with a lot of energy. We love to learn and he can teach us. We are able to understand his ideas and show it. We had a good season. We wanted the Champions League and did it. We won the Conference League. This is another step for us.'
Cucurella can pinpoint the precise date when he began to enjoy his time at Chelsea. It was on March 17, 2024. He had been injured since December, then returned and scored in a 4-2 win in the FA Cup. 'I had time to think about myself and to know me better and what is good for me and what I needed to work on more,' he says. 'This is probably the moment that changed my career.
'Yes, it was a bad moment, it was very tough for me, but after this injury, I scored against Leicester. Then that evening, the national team called me because they had an injured left back (Jose Gaya).
'That summer, I played the Euros, six games. We played amazing football and I was very important. Then I came here in the summer and everything was better. The manager, he brought my best football out of me.'
We got to see a more human side to Cucurella in Married to the Game, the television series in which took us inside of his family life. He and his wife, Claudia Rodriguez, spoke tearfully on their son, Mateo, who lives with autism.
'It was very good because, OK, I play for Chelsea. I won the Euros, but we have a lot of problems that a lot of families can have,' he says. 'People think that you have a perfect life, but it's not like this.'
Whatever happens, when this Club World Cup is over, Chelsea's players are going to be given 21 days of downtime, so long as it is not delayed by a sudden FIFA directive for the winners to report to the White House in Washington for an Oval Office audience with President Trump.
How will Cucurella spend those three weeks? On a Disney cruise with his wife and three children.
'I will need to watch all the cartoons,' he beams. 'Just enjoy what they want to do. Try to spend time with them. The most important thing is that when I'm with them, I don't think about football.'
Sunday is for business, however, not pleasure. Cucurella will try to stop Dembele, Desire Doue and all of PSG's other army of attackers from scoring while hoping Cole Palmer and Co can grab the goals that secure Chelsea the shiny FIFA badge which would live on their shirts for the next four years.