Marc Cucurella was one of the stars of the night for Chelsea as they beat FC Barcelona 3-0 earlier this week in the UEFA Champions League.
As reported earlier, the 27-year-old left-back had the Barça game marked in red on his calendar, given his history with the Catalan club.
After all, he had spent several years within the Blaugrana setup but never got a proper shot at first-team football, departing only after one solitary senior appearance.
Cucurella talks about Barcelona exit
Speaking in the ‘Informe Plus’ programme, that will air on 1 December, under the title ‘Cucu… Cucurella’, the Chelsea star reflected on his departure from Barcelona.
“Not being given the opportunity hurts a little. I felt bad about it, but it made me grow a lot,” Cucurella said, as quoted by SPORT.
“Everything I’ve achieved so far, perhaps, if the decision had been different, I wouldn’t have achieved everything I have now,” he added.
Marc Cucurella, Chelsea player
Cucurella left Barcelona permanently in 2020. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
In the preview of the programme, Gerard Lopez, who coached Cucurella in Barcelona’s B team, also spoke about the left-back’s time at the club.
“At club meetings, planning meetings and meetings to discuss young players’ options for promotion to the first team, I always defended him,” said Lopez.
“Just as I did with Grimaldo. I believed that they were left-backs who, if given the chance to be in the first team calmly to let Jordi Alba do his thing, but later hand over to a homegrown player, I was convinced that either of them could do it.”
As mentioned earlier, Cucurella made only one senior appearance for Barcelona, which came in a Copa del Rey match against Real Murcia in 2017 under Ernesto Valverde.
Cucurella was never called up again by Valverde, and he ended up leaving for Eibar on loan the subsequent summer.
After impressing, he joined the club permanently, only for Barça to re-sign him and loan him to Getafe, who made the transfer permanent a year later in 2020.