View Ousmane Dembele when Chelsea takes one of their short goal kicks on Sunday evening. The attitude of the Saint-Germain Saint-Germain will be practically OER, similar to a sprinter who likes to eat his 100 meters, prepared to chase that ball as if it is the last one left on the planet.
Marc Cucurella mentions Dembele as the toughest opponent he has ever confronted and the Spaniard says that if someone who has stopped the supersonic 28-year-old twice when he was on his territory on the right wing of France.
First in the Euro 2024 semi-final won 2-1 through Spain and then in the Nations League final, a 5-4 victory in which there is a photo of Cucurella screaming down to a decorated deminy like Muhammad Ali standing above Sonny Liston.
Now, the trilogy. Dembele will start as PSG's striker in the club World Cup final that is held here in the shadow of New York City, but there is a good chance that the next balloon d'Or will occasionally drift into Cucurella territory.
However, the left side of Chelsea is not afraid. In fact, after arrival in the lobby of their five -star hotel, the peninsula, we see giggling for this interview.
That is because we asked him how he had stood out of his own fans because he was so bad to express by fans because they are so good.
“They don't leave me alone, nobody, never!” Cucurella says laughing about the supporters of rival parties. “But it's good. I know when they do this, it's because we continue or when they start to lose the game. '
Cucurella was at Getafe when Brighton before he came to Chelsea for £ 55 million rise to £ 62 million, and about his first songs with the supporters who are now singing cheerfully 'He eats paella, he drinks Estrella, his hair is f *** ing massive', he continues: 'It was not a player to take. I understood that the club paid a lot of money for me, so they expect me to be 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 as if we win, I am very happy. If we draw, it is another point, will not be degraded. But when you come here, you have the feeling that you have to win every game.
“I don't feel like I liked it (my early days at Chelsea), because if you become a member here, it's like” you win, okay, it's your task “and you don't celebrate. It is difficult to feel this pressure. I am the same player I was when I drew, but now I have more confidence. I trust my quality. It is important to learn in the big clubs.
“It was difficult because I thought in the first months:” Oh F *** ING Hell “. I enjoyed it more at other clubs, because if you win, you are happy all week. But if you are in a big club, you have to understand this. Here you have to win every game, because you want to play for trophies and finals at the end of the season. '
Cucurella adds that he does not take note of the bars that are aimed at him from the stands, the Bob comparisons and Such sideshow. The players of Chelsea looked at the 4-0 win of PSG over Real Madrid in the semi-final, but again, Cucurella is not afraid to take on Luis Enrique's world knockers and he is convinced that they can grab Dembele as he did before.
“Madrid made two major mistakes in two minutes that completely changed the game and it was also hot, so that the game brought in favor of PSG,” he says. In this game, Chelsea indeed goes with a plan to try to have their part of the possession, despite the fact that Enrique's side tends to dominate when they play. The reason? The humidity will exhaust the side without the ball.
Cucurella admits that PSG is the best team in the world, but then everything 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 also have our chances.
'When I arrived at this club, it was difficult. We know that Chelsea is a big club. This manager has arrived with a lot of energy. We love to learn and he can teach us. We can understand and show his ideas. We had a good season. We wanted the Champions League and did it. We have won the Conference League. This is a different step for us. '
Cucurella can determine the precise date when he started to enjoy his time in Chelsea. It was on March 17, 2024. He had been injured since December and then returned and scored in a 4-2 victory in the FA Cup. “I had time to think about myself and to get to know myself better and what is good for me and what I had to work on more,” he says. “This is probably the moment that my career has changed.
'Yes, it was a bad moment, it was very difficult for me, but after this injury I scored against Leicester. Then the national team called me that evening because they had a injured link behind (Jose Gaya).
'That summer I played the euros, six games. We played great football and I was very important. Then I came here in the summer and everything was better. The manager, he took my best football out of me. '
We were shown a more human side at Cucurella in married to the game, the television series in which we brought us into his family life. He and his wife, Claudia Rodriguez, spoke tears about their son, Mateo, who lives with autism.
'It was very good because, okay, I play for Chelsea. I have won the euros, but we have many problems that many families can have, “he says. “People think you have a perfect life, but it isn't.”
Whatever happens, when this Club World Cup is over, the players of Chelsea get 21 days downtime, as 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 have to watch all cartoons,” he shines. '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. '
On Sunday, however, is not a pleasure. Cucurella will try to stop Dembele, Desire Doue and all the other army of PSG to score, while hoping that Cole Palmer and Co can take the goals that Chelsea will secure the shiny FIFA badge that would live on their shirts for the next four years.