A Marc Cucurella, aka ‘Cucu‘, ‘Pelos‘ and in recent days ‘Secadora‘, a nickname coined by Mikel Merino, everyone loves him. He is a walking smile. If Vicente del Bosque wanted to reincarnate as Sergio Busquets, Luis de la Fuente does not hesitate when asked the same question: “Marc. Without a doubt. He is very cheerful and fun, he reminds me a lot of myself,” admits the coach. And besides being an extraordinary guy, Cucurella is the best left-back in the tournament. No one has been able to dribble past him since the match against Saudi Arabia. No one. Uruguayans, Austrians, Portuguese, Belgians, and French, including stars Mbappé, Olise, and Dembélé, have crashed against him. Absolutely impenetrable.
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Cucurella’s curls have pushed Spain to the second final in their history, just like Puyol‘s did, his idol, 16 years ago. The new Real Madrid left-back did not score in the semifinals, as the Barça defender did against Germany, but his performance against France has earned the admiration of the entire football world. “You ate him up,” Fabián Ruiz told him when entering the Dallas locker room after the match against the French. He was referring to the marking on Michael Olise, the season’s breakout player and French star alongside Mbappé and Dembélé. The Bayern winger couldn’t handle Cucurella, tireless, intense, and tough despite receiving a yellow card in the 30th minute of the match, a situation he managed throughout the game and that did not worry De la Fuente, who did not substitute him.
“They laugh at him, but no one surpasses him. He is an incredible player. Holding on from the 30th minute with a yellow card and defending and winning duels against Olise and Dembélé… He had them in his pocket,” declared Thierry Henry on the official television. Besides not being dribbled past since the second matchday, Cucurella is the fifth player with the most kilometers covered in the entire World Cup behind Rodri, Kane, Anderson, and Mac Allister, a testament to his extraordinary physical effort. He is also 6th with most sprints, leading Spain in that category. He does not negotiate effort. He covers everything. So much so that he has not lost since his international debut: 29 matches and only Portugal, on penalties, has beaten Spain when he has been on the pitch.
Mourinho, in love
Now he will arrive at MetLife Stadium to become world champion again, although this time with the national team. Twelve months ago, the Catalan lifted the Club World Cup with Chelsea on that same pitch after stopping PSG’s offensive flow. Performances with his club and national team have pushed Madrid to pay 55 million euros for him and have Jose Mourinho enamored.
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It is not the first time he has convinced a coach. It is what he has had to do throughout his career because at first, by image, he did not seem the best possible project. Something clicked in Barça’s youth teams thanks to his father’s anger. “I went out one night and came home in a bad mood. The next day I had training and my father was very angry. He didn’t talk to me,” he said a few months ago. That moment woke him up and made him focus completely.
In Eibar, in his first loan in professional football, José Luis Mendilibar realized the hidden potential in that body. “He is neither fast nor strong. Of all those measurements we do, with so many machines we have, he doesn’t fit into any. That is, you would never sign him. But he is a footballer, he is smart and chooses well. And you always put him in,” the coach explained some time ago about his time in charge of Eibar managing Cucurella.
From there to Getafe, to Brighton, where he coincided with the Argentine Mac Allister, to Chelsea and now to Madrid, but first, a final that will pit him against Messi, his last test, and that could force him to cut his mane.
