Marc Cucurella is a Barcelona academy product who become one of La Liga's top fullbacks at Getafe before blossoming into an elite left back in the Premier League for Brighton and Chelsea and then a European champion for Spain. To the surprise of many, Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho insisted to Florentino Perez that he wanted Cucurella and only Cucurella to be his starting left back in his system and that Real needed to sign him now from Chelsea.
So with Cucurella apparently close to joining La Liga rivals, Real Madrid swooped in and signed the Premier League star for a cool 60 million euros, breaking their M.O. by going back to a more defensive left back as the replacement for 50 million euro transfer flop Alvaro Carreras (whose own future could be tied back to Chelsea and Xabi Alonso).
There is clearly no love lost between Cucurella and Barcelona, and now that he has betrayed the Blaugrana for their biggest ever rivals in Real Madrid, the Blaugrana stars are going to be mouthing off even more at him.
Dani Olmo has no love for Marc Cucurella
Even his own Spanish national teammate Dani Olmo, one of Barcelona's many talented attacking midfielders, did not shy away from brutally criticized his own team's left back at the 2026 World Cup, proclaiming that he will suffer now that he is back in La Liga.
Olmo said of Cucurella, via the Madrid Zone, "Cucurella to Real Madrid? We didn't know, he kept it to himself. He'll have to suffer in La Liga. He'll suffer against Lamine, for example."
It's such a bizarre comment from Dani Olmo to say about someone he shares a locker room with in Spain, but maybe Jose Mourinho is already starting to create that old rivalry dynamic between Real Madrid and Barcelona that helped make the 2010s Clasicos the biggest appointment television in any sport on the globe.
There is a lot of animosity between Real Madrid and Barcelona players, even in the Spanish ranks, and it is telling that Cucurella hid the move from his teammates, especially those with Barca ties, when many wondered if he would go back to Barca or join Atletico Madrid.
It is telling that Olmo did not have a single kind word or show professionalism and sportsmanship to Cucurella. The latter is going to have a massive point to prove to Barcelona that he is worthy of Real Madrid, he is better without Barca, and he will not suffer - not even against the gem that is Lamine Yamal.
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