Cucurella Shines in Chelsea’s Victory Over Barcelona

Wayne Rooney commended Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella for his outstanding performance in marking Lamine Yamal during the team’s 3-0 Champions League victory over Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

In the lead-up to the match, Cucurella humorously advised his teammate Estêvão to practice with shin pads, preparing for the challenge of Yamal. He indeed delivered on his promise, adhering closely to the 18-year-old Spanish forward without resorting to reckless challenges.

“Cucurella gave the best training lesson possible for dealing with Lamine Yamal tonight,” Rooney remarked during the Amazon Prime broadcast.

“Cucurella was absolutely incredible; it was probably the best performance I’ve seen from a left-back in a long, long while. To achieve that tonight, he is undoubtedly a serious player.”

Chelsea opened the scoring in the 27th minute thanks to an own goal from Joules Koundé. Ronald Araújo received a second yellow card shortly before halftime, further complicating matters for Barcelona. Chelsea extended their lead ten minutes into the second half with a stunning goal from Estêvão, while Liam Delap capped off the match with a strike in the 73rd minute, sealing a definitive victory.

Notably, Estêvão’s goal garnered significant media attention, overshadowing the outcome of the match.

The pre-match narrative heavily focused on the clash between Estêvão and Yamal—two rising stars at just 18 years old—where Estêvão emerged victorious, aided significantly by Cucurella.

With this win, Chelsea climbed to fifth place in the league standings, while Barcelona fell to 15th. The Blues have secured three wins and a draw in the Champions League following their lone defeat to Bayern Munich, who are set to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in Wednesday’s Premier League clash.