Chelsea travel to Brentford on Sunday for a Premier League fixture, and the reserve fixture was quite a fiery one.
Back in December 2024, Chelsea beat Brentford 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in a competitive London derby.
Fans may remember that Blues defender Marc Cucurella, 26, was sent off after the final whistle because he picked up a second yellow card after a confrontation with opposition player Kevin Schade.
In his post-match interview, Brentford manager Thomas Frank criticised Cucurella for some of his actions throughout the December contest. He said: “I think Cucurella is a top player, he is doing well. But I don’t like it when players go to the ground and holding their face [incident in stoppage time].”
Even though Cucurella can sometimes be guilty of treading the line with the things he does on the football pitch, for example, exaggerating certain incidents, he’s still an individual that would get into most sides in Europe right now.
We’re definitely expecting a great atmosphere at the Gtech Community Stadium when Brentford host Chelsea in Sunday afternoon’s league fixture.
Thomas Frank applauds the quality of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella
Frank has made some fresh comments about Cucurella ahead of Brentford’s latest game with Chelsea.
In fairness, the Bees manager has credited the Spain international for his brilliant individual campaign. He also briefly mentioned his previous annoyance with him from the reverse fixture.
During his press-match press conference, Frank said via BeanymanSports2: “I said it before with Cucurella, I think he’s a very good player… He’s performed so well since he came to England, to Brighton and then to Chelsea, and he’s now playing also for the national team and doing fantastic. I think he’s been one of the best left-backs in the league.
“You know, there’s just some things that trick you as a person, and I think that particular situation is just not for me. That’s why I reacted.”
Jason Cundy claims people love hating Cucurella because he’s turned into a bit of a pantomime villain over the years. Whatever the aggressive left-back has been doing this campaign, it’s definitely been working for him.
Frank Leboeuf recently apologised to Cucurella by claiming that he’s been too hard on him in the past.
Marc Cucurella is in the conversation for the Premier League’s best left-back
Without a doubt, Cucurella deserves to be spoken about alongside the division’s very best left-backs right now.
Everyone remembers the criticism and struggles that the Spanish full-back had when he first joined Chelsea from Brighton in 2022, largely because of the pressure of his £60m price tag. However, he’s managed to perform a complete U-turn in his career to become a star player in the Blues squad.
Most importantly, he’s the definition of consistency because he’s been so solid all season.
| Appearances | Goals | Assists | Touches in opposition box | Pass accuracy | Tackles won % | Yellow cards | Red cards | Average rating |
| 28 | 4 | 1 | 60 | 89.4% | 67.3% | 7 | 1 | 6.94 |
The likes of Antonee Robinson at Fulham and Milos Kerkez at Bournemouth are really talented left-backs in England’s top division, but we wouldn’t trade either of them for the tenacious Cucurella.
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