Marc Cucurella is ready to join Chelsea’s guard of honor for Liverpool on Sunday, but his mind is already focused on toppling Arne Slot’s champions and reclaiming the Premier League title for the Blues.
The first stop on Liverpool’s victory parade is Stamford Bridge, where Cucurella plans to put a dent in the Reds’ celebrations. Following their title win, Liverpool fans’ jubilation at Anfield was so intense that it registered on the Richter scale, with Alexis Mac Allister’s goal in the 5-1 thrashing of Tottenham peaking at 1.74.
However, Cucurella is determined to cause an upset. The Spanish left-back, a strong contender for Chelsea’s player of the season, stated: “Hopefully we can have this (honor) as well in the next few years.”
After a challenging debut season at Chelsea, where he became a $80 million part of the club’s $2 billion spending spree over three years, Cucurella has won over fans with six goals this term. Despite envying Liverpool’s title triumph, he acknowledged: “It’s clear, they won the league and they deserve it because they are there all the season.
“If we need to do it (a guard of honor), we do it. But once the game starts, we go for our objectives – we try to fight with everything and fight for the three points.
“I don’t think I have ever done this before – this is the first time – but hopefully we can have this as well in the next few years.
“It’s what we are fighting for and what we are trying to do. It’s a process. I think it’s a good thing to have it, but it is even better if we do it and we win the game. Earlier in the season I remember at Anfield we played very good but they scored in the key moments.”
Cucurella has quickly become a fan favourite at Chelsea, with supporters even creating a chant about his ample locks and a supposed preference for the Spanish beer Estrella.
He found humor in the situation, admitting: “To be fair, I don’t like Estrella, I don’t like beer, I don’t like wine. For me, as a Spanish person it’s strange, but it’s the truth… I only like vodka.”
After a brief moment of tension was diffused by a nervous look from Chelsea’s press officer, realizing Cucurella had been jesting, he openly expressed: “I feel very proud because when I joined here it was tough.”
“It was my first season and I tried to work hard, not say anything, work in silence. It was not easy, but now I feel very good and I feel very proud. Chelsea is in my heart now and joining Chelsea is a top experience. When you are a kid, you dream to play in these kinds of clubs. Then when I came here, there were a lot of changes, a lot of things that were a bit tough.”
“But I know my qualities, my family believe in me, so I try to work hard every day, show my qualities in training and then, when I have the opportunity, I try to do it in the games. Now my team-mates and the staff give me a lot of confidence.
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“When I joined this club I wanted to fight for trophies, fight for big things and after a tough season I think this one was a bit more regular. We showed our level, we started to create something important and now it’s in our hands.”
Chelsea is on the brink of reaching the UEFA Conference League final following a convincing 4-1 victory away at Sweden’s Djurgarden in the semi-final first leg. Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest’s unexpected home loss to Brentford has shifted the top-five finish odds in favor of Enzo Maresca’s squad.
With Champions League qualification within reach, Chelsea might face a decisive clash against Forest at the City Ground on the last day of the season. Cucurella said: “We are very ambitious on these things. Now it depends on us and we can show that we are ready and we deserve it.
“We train every day to prepare for playing these important games, reaching the finals and playing for a title.
“I believe we start to build something important.”
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Mirror by clicking here.
