From the photo that summed up Cucurella’s start at Chelsea to the moment he turned it all around - here’s how the Spaniard became a fan favourite
For proof judgement should never be cast in stone after a mere handful of games, or even a full season at a new club, look no further than Marc Cucurella.
The Chelsea defender’s redemption arc is a rarity in football, for he has achieved this turnaround without leaving Stamford Bridge.
A departure had been on the cards just one year into life at Chelsea, when he carried the weight of a price-tag he never asked for and almost joined Manchester United on loan in the summer of 2023, but two years on and the jeers from his own supporters are firmly a thing of the past.
Now he is a fan favourite, a “master of the dark arts” adored by the Shed End who currently walks into any Premier League XI, the Spain regular who was man of the match against Benfica before his star turn against Liverpool as well.
And to work out how we got here, we must revisit the fall and go back to the time Cucurella identifies himself as the moment the salvation started – just months before he emphatically silenced Gary Neville.
The moment Cucurella finally found his feet
It took Cucurella 18 months to hit his stride at Chelsea. After joining from Brighton the same summer as Graham Potter, the defender was tarnished with the same brush that had doused a manager clearly out of his depth.
The sense was Cucurella was equally ill-equipped, and while utilised across three different roles – left-back, left-midfield and centre-back – to sum up Potter’s muddled thinking, he also was fighting a losing battle up against then fan favourite Ben Chilwell.
This came to the fore in February 2023, with Cucurella booed by his own supporters when replaced by Chilwell against West Ham and again when coming on for his teammate against Borussia Dortmund.
Cucurella would in fact earn the player of the match award against Dortmund in the second leg in March, but at this stage of his Chelsea career standout displays were all too infrequent.
He played centre-back in Potter’s last match, against Aston Villa on 1 April 2023, before a muscle injury ended his season early, which resulted in him starting the following campaign on the bench under Mauricio Pochettino.
That season Cucurella and Chilwell seemed to share a pass to the physio room. They were rarely in there together, nor were they both fit for a significant stretch of time – the pair only making seven of the 38 matchday Premier League squads together in 2023-24, with five of those occasions falling before October.
And it was in December that season when supporters looked to have lost complete faith with Cucurella, when he was hauled off at half-time at Manchester United after a 19-year-old Alejandro Garnacho turned the £60m defender inside-out.
“There’s a picture of Cucurella facing the wrong way, making it look like he’s running away from the 1v1 with Garnacho,” Sam GR, aka CFC Central from the London is Blue Podcast, tells The i Paper.
“That was Cucurella when he arrived at Chelsea, not athletically nor technically gifted, a defender whose flaws, ironically, were most visible when he was defending.
“No one, not even his own fans, gave him a chance at redemption.”
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 6: Marc Cucurella of Chelsea and Alejandro Garnacho of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Chelsea FC at Old Trafford on December 6, 2023 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Marc Cucurella was turned inside-out by Alejandro Garnacho in December 2023 (Photo: Getty)
A three-month spell on the sidelines due to ankle surgery followed, which Cucurella actually counts as the crucial reset that led to his eventual improvement.
“When I was injured, I was three months out, and then I had a lot of time to think about myself and to know me better and what is good for me and what I needed to work on more. This is probably the moment that changed my career,” he told BBC Sport in the summer.
Aided by Chilwell’s season-ending injury, Cucurella then enjoyed a run in the side upon his return, which coincided with a recall from Spain – making his second appearance in March 2024 almost three years after his international debut.
That momentum made him a starter at Euro 2024, and though identified by Gary Neville as a weak spot in this Spanish side – “there’s something just missing from Spain that makes you feel like they’re not going to go all the way. I have to say that him being at left-back is a good example of why we think that,” Neville said – it was Cucurella who had the last laugh.
“We went all the way Gary. Thanks for your support,” Cucurella posted, having just assisted Mikel Oyarzabal for the 86th-minute against England in the final.
A Maresca favourite
The season that followed the Euros saw Chelsea replace Pochettino with Enzo Maresca, who comfortably ranks Cucurella among his favourites.
No player has featured in more Chelsea games under Maresca than Cucurella, while only Moises Caicedo has clocked more minutes, and this evident trust has restored the player’s confidence – a vital foundation for any player to thrive, and proof that perhaps in Cucurella’s case it was never really him that changed drastically but the circumstances he found himself in.
“Marc has something that is difficult to find,” Maresca said in March.
“He is clever and intelligent. He scored two goals against Wolves and Brentford and he is probably the smallest one in the team.
“This shows you how intelligent he is because he is in the right position.”
This intelligence has been noticed by the fans, too, with the Stamford Bridge faithful acknowledging someone who has recognised their own pitfalls and played to their strengths.
“What has won over the Chelsea faithful is how incredibly hard he has fought to overcome those odds,” Sam adds.
“Knowing he does not possess the athleticism and reactions of a defensive full-back has seen Cucurella adapt himself into a master of the dark arts; he wins fouls, antagonises opponents into making mistakes and thrives when playing the pantomime villain.
“Despite his defensive vulnerabilities, on multiple occasions he has locked Bukayo Saka out in games against Arsenal. In seven seasons before last he managed eight goals; last season alone he managed seven in all competitions.”
We have all also had the chance to witness the human being behind the football star, a point often forgotten in the throes of watching multi-millionaires kick a ball around.
In Cucurella’s case, it was an appearance with partner Claudia on Amazon Prime’s Married to the Game docuseries where the pair spoke openly about the challenges of raising a son with autism.
“All the people think that you have a perfect life, but we footballers have normal lives and normal problems that all people have,” Cucurella said.
“Personally, I didn’t expect that people would love it in this way. I was not nervous but, if things don’t go well, people might say, ‘He’s not focused on football, he’s focused on filming this and that’. But it was nice.”
For Chelsea supporters, it has added another layer to the comeback story.
“It was a poignant moment that helped bring depth and humanity to his struggles on and off the field,” Sam says.
“Everyone at Chelsea loves a comeback story, like Petr Cech returning after a fractured skull. They love a player who defies destiny – Didier Drogba’s header in that final after 88 minutes of siege against Bayern Munich, Frank Lampard’s penalty against Liverpool in a game he was supposed to miss after his mother’s passing.
“Cucurella has done both, why wouldn’t the Chelsea fans have anything but admiration?”
Cucurella ended last season by scoring the winner against Manchester United, the club he almost joined whose stage is where Garnacho embarrassed him further.
Now Cucurella is the best left-back in the league on form, and because it is our nature to judge too quickly that has all largely gone unrecognised. Unlikely though for much longer.