New Real Madrid left back signing Marc Cucurella is not a popular man in the Spanish national team right now, as Barcelona stars Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal have taken umbrage with the former Chelsea star for signing with Real Madrid and betraying the Blaugrana as an academy graduate.
Cucurella also spurned Atletico Madrid, another Madrid rival in the process of signing with the Royal Whites, and also, he was a former Getafe star before going to Brighton in the Premier League, later signing on and becoming a bigger name at Chelsea.
The European Champion was even criticized by Yamal before the World Cup Round of 32, as the Barcelona superstar stated he would cook Cucurella so badly in the next Clasico that Real would have to hook him off at half time.
Marc Cucurella is ready for El Clasico
While Yamal did not have a bad game against Austria in the 3-0 win, he did not score or assist and lost the ball quite a bit, while Marc Cucurella was the star of the show, playing a clean match and recording two brilliant assists for Mikel Oyarzabal to sink former Real Madrid star center back David Alaba.
In addition to his two assists, Cucurella drew two fouls and ruled the left flank, as Austria did very little to threaten Spain defensively. Cucurella's big game was a real statement to Lamine Yamal that maybe the Ballon d'Or contender that he will have to be on alert defensively himself, because as much as Cucurella prides himself on defending to help the forwards, he can also hurt teams going forward with his work rate and crossing.
Jose Mourinho demanded the Cucurella signing for a reason, and the future Real Madrid star left back is already proving that 60 million euros was not too high of a price for the player. There will be stiffer tests than Austria, yes, but it is interesting to see that agains the same opponent, the former Getafe star was the bigger offensive threat because of his consistency and end product.
Yamal may have been half joking with the comments he made about Cucurella, but even saying that you are joking is not quite enough when you make a remark like that about a teammate of yours during the World Cup. All anyone knows is that the first Clasico of 2026/27 with Mourinho is going to be crazy, and Cucurella sent the message that he is more than game.
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