Five months into his move to Real Madrid, Marc Cucurella already has his verdict on where the club stands in European football. Speaking on COPE’s El Partidazo on Monday night while on duty with Spain, the former Barcelona academy graduate was unequivocal.
“In my opinion, we are currently the best team in Europe,” Cucurella told COPE’s El Partidazo.
The claim sits uneasily with the current La Liga table. Real Madrid are third on 27 points, three behind leaders Barcelona and one behind Atlético Madrid after 11 matchdays.
Guler ahead of Mbappé and Bellingham
Asked to name Madrid’s best player, Cucurella waved away the obvious choices. Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Thibaut Courtois were the “typical” picks, he told COPE, before he went in another direction.
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“When Arda plays, we play differently. I love him,” he said of the 21-year-old Turkey international.
Mbappé is Madrid’s leading scorer and the man who struck twice in the 2-1 Clásico win at Camp Nou on 25 October, according to Al Jazeera’s match report.
Diomande’s work “more visible”, not more frequent
Cucurella, who joined from Chelsea for £52m in June, also pushed back at the criticism aimed at Vinicius Jr. He argued that a player who has sat among the world’s best for several seasons is entitled to a dip in form, and he backed the Brazilian to rediscover his previous level.
He was equally dismissive of the narrative that Real Madrid’s new record signing Yan Diomande does more defensive work than Vinicius Jr on the left. Cucurella told COPE the difference was simply that the Ivorian’s recoveries were more visible, not more frequent. Diomande arrived from RB Leipzig in August for a reported €125m, rising to a potential €140m with add-ons, a club record that surpassed the fee paid for Bellingham.
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On Lamine Yamal, the Barcelona forward whose shirt he pulled over the teenager’s head during the Clásico celebration, Cucurella said the two had not spoken since and that he had nothing to say.
Cucurella is with Luis de la Fuente’s Spain squad through the Nations League window. Yamal, who injured his right knee in Barcelona’s win over Atlético Madrid on 8 November, will miss Thursday’s trip to Czechia and is targeting a return for Sunday’s match against England in Madrid, the Spanish Football Federation confirmed.
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