‘Cucurella defends like a potato!’ – Chelsea destroyed over €140m waste

Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

• 13 Apr 2023 07:52 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea need a Champions League miracle if they are to progress to the semi-finals of the competition following a 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio have given Carlo Ancelotti’s side a clear route to the final four, despite the big spending of the Premier League side.

Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana suffered for the Blues, and given they were acquired for a total greater than €140 million, this has left critics unimpressed.

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Former Netherlands midfielder Johan Boskamp, for example, took aim at the former Brighton man via RTL 7.

“That Cucurella, he really defends like a potato”, Boskamp said. “Incredible. Maybe he's not playing in his favourite position, but he just doesn't know what to do and he often did. He doesn't know when to cover."

Chelsea started in a 3-5-2 formation, with Thiago Silva, Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly at the back. Koulibaly was injured 10 minutes after the break and replaced by Cucurella. Minutes later, Ben Chilwell was shown a red card. Presenter Humberto Tan noted that the former Brighton man cost €65m.

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“That's not too bad, right?”, Sneijder reacted cynically, after which Theo Janssen made a serious judgment.

“He’s just a simple full-back, a left-back that needs a sideline,” Janssen, a former Ajax and Netherlands midfielder, suggested. “You saw he's a full-back who ends up in the centre and then he's lost it.”

Sneijder added: “But Theo, who signs a boy like that? There are a few more like that. That Fofana too. €80m! So that is €140m in capital destruction. Maybe the pressure is too much now that they play at a big club. That is also possible, isn't it?"

Chilwell criticism

Chilwell did not escape censure for his red card, with Danny Blind telling Ziggo Sport: “I think you should always rely on your keeper at this stage of the game.

“He is not there for nothing, that ball still has to go in. You do this in the 80th minute or in the second leg if it really matters. I don't like this at all and I think it was really stupid. You're playing almost the entire second half with ten men.

“You can also lose 3-0 or 4-0 and then it's all over. You always have to wait and see if such a ball flies in."

Thanks to the goals of Benzema and Asensio, Real Madrid will travel to Stamford Bridge next week with a comfortable 2-0 lead. The winner of the tie will face Manchester City or Bayern Munich in the semi-finals. City won the first game convincingly 3-0 on Tuesday.