Rio Ferdinand gave ‘special mention’ to Marc Cucurella following Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph over England, claiming the Chelsea star was the best left-back in the tournament.
Cucurella endured a difficult season at club level with Chelsea and was on the receiving end of heavy criticism from some supporters in west London.
However, the 25-year-old started all but one of Spain’s matches in Germany this summer and was instrumental in La Roja’s defeat of England in the final, producing a superb assist for Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner.
In the aftermath of Spain’s victory, Cucurella even took the opportunity to hit back at Gary Neville, who had questioned the defender’s presence in Luis de la Fuente’s starting XI at the start of their campaign.
The full-back will no doubt be looking to pick up where he left off when Chelsea get their Premier League campaign underway against Manchester City, the reigning champions, at Stamford Bridge in a month’s time.
‘The best team won the cup and that was Spain. Congratulations to Spain,’ former England and Manchester United centre-back Ferdinand said on his Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE YouTube channel while reflecting on Sunday’s showpiece.
‘Shout-out [Lamine] Yamal. He was 16 when this tournament started, 17 when he lifted the trophy. Ridiculous. Will this ever be beaten, this kind of performance from a kid so young? Nico Williams, Dani Olmo, Rodri…
‘Shout-out Cucurella, by the way. Special mention.
‘Ridiculed by some fans, looked at and talked about as a failure and a flop at Chelsea last season… best left-back in the tournament.
‘Great character, great performances and he deservedly lifts the trophy and set up the winning goal.’
In his post-match punditry on ITV, Ferdinand said Cucurella was able to have such an outstanding tournament as Spain had ‘played to his strengths’ over the last month.
‘You need to play your players whatever level they are in their best positions that suit them,’ Ferdinand said.
‘I’ll give you two players here who are good examples. Kane, I think he’s played a position after scoring 40-odd goals at Bayern in a way, in a team that doesn’t suit him.
‘You can talk about how good or bad he’s played, but you need to play to people’s strengths.
‘Switch that over to Cucurella who this years was ridiculed by his own supporters at Chelsea and comes here and is arguably the best left-back in the tournament because they played to his strengths and was given pictures that suit his game.
‘It’s a huge difference between two players in the tournament.’
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