Marc Cucurella Fires Hilarious Lamine Yamal Warning Ahead of Champions League Showdown

Chelsea fullback Marc Cucurella joked that he would face relegation to the international wilderness if he did not behave himself when coming up against Lamine Yamal’s Barcelona in the league phase of this season’s Champions League.

Cucurella scored his first goal for Spain in a 3–0 thumping of Bulgaria dominated by Yamal’s brilliance on Thursday. The teenage sensation enjoyed another decisive display in Sofia, playing a role in all three goals as the reigning European champions continued their march through World Cup qualifying.

With the outcome of that fixture scarcely in doubt, attention shifted towards an intriguing Champions League clash between Chelsea and Barcelona in November which pits two of members of the Spain squad directly against one another.

Cucurella, who would have been at Barcelona’s academy at the same time as a younger Yamal was just joining the club, described his compatriot as “the hardest winger to stop” in world football.

“He’s a very skilled player; you never know what he’s going to do to you,” Cucurella lamented. “It’ll be a tough match, but I’ll try to make things as difficult as possible for him.” Not too difficult, though.

Lamine Yamal promised to bring the Champions League trophy back to Barcelona. | Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images

“I can’t injure him,” Cucurella added with a grin, “because otherwise I can’t come back to the national team.”

Even though Chelsea’s left back won’t be going out to clatter Yamal, he may be tempted to deploy a front-footed approach which has worked well for him against other quality opponents in the past. Cucurella has had particular success against Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka during recent matchups by getting as tight as possible to the left-footed right winger to try and make him “feel uncomfortable.”

The 27-year-old also successfully muzzled Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah at the end of last season, underscoring how he relishes such one-on-one duels. “Those challenges are nice for me,” Cucurella reflected last summer. “Playing against rivals of such quality is nice.”

The Spanish scorer was predictably quizzed about his pick for this year’s Ballon d’Or. Having touched upon his own individual ambitions earlier in the week, Cucurella acknowledged that it is Yamal’s gong.

“I think Lamine has had a great year, he deserves it,” the defender gushed.

“In the end, if he doesn’t win it, it doesn’t matter; he’s very young, but at his age, the things he does are worth appreciating.” What Yamal does at Stamford Bridge in a couple of months may not be entirely appreciated by Cucurella.