Spain international Marc Cucurella has revealed the similarities between Chelsea teammate Cole Palmer and compatriot Lamine Yamal ahead of Sunday’s Euro 2024 final against England.
After enjoying a wonderful debut season for the Blues, Palmer was included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the tournament in Germany but has been restricted to 126 minutes of game time, all coming as a substitute.
However, he made a vital contribution in the semi-final victory over the Netherlands, providing the assist for Ollie Watkins’ dramatic winner.
Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal is one of Spain’s biggest threats, having enjoyed a wonderful run of form during the competition so far.
Asked by The Athletic if there was one England player he struggles to defend against, Cucurella backed club teammate Palmer and named some similarities between him and Yamal.
He said: “He has not played a lot at Euro 2024, but it has to be Cole Palmer. His football brain works so quickly, he is always a step ahead of the rest. His decision-making is almost always excellent, and that sort of intelligence is the most difficult thing to defend against, you just can’t predict what he’ll do next. I’ve suffered a lot in training.
“He reminds me a lot of Lamine Yamal. Same style of player. He is a guy who does not care too much about anything. They don’t take life or themselves too seriously. If you ran into Palmer in the streets, you would never tell he is a footballer. But then he plays and…oof.
“He arrived at a tough time for Chelsea, when the team was struggling, and he made an impact from the start. That helped him a lot to keep growing and getting more confident. If you manage to get those kinds of players in a situation of confidence, they make the difference. I’m so happy and hope he carries on like this…but after this weekend!
“He is a special character. He is so serious. When people see him, it’s not like he is instantly likeable. It’s difficult to explain, but when any teammate sees me they instantly know I am up for a joke and that we can engage in that way. But he is always so serious.
“Still, we got along well, really quickly, since the first training sessions. We were doing mini-matches in training, five-a-side, and the coaches put us together in some. From there, we clicked. Whenever we were on the same team, we would never lose. We had this joke of being the winning team and that’s how our good bond started.”
Cucurella has enjoyed a renaissance with Spain at Euro 2024 after previously being lambasted for errant displays at Stamford Bridge and will start at left-back in Berlin.
