Marc Cucurella addresses his surprise benching by Enzo Maresca | OneFootball

It’s been a wildly up and down year for Marc Cucurella, and even the last month has been a rollercoaster.

This time a year ago he picked up an ankle injury which required surgery. It felt like a bit of a blessing really – his second season at Chelsea had started as poorly as the first, and he was really starting to suffer with the fans on his back as the team struggled.

The break seemed to be just what he needed – he returned in the spring to become one of our best players, then went to the Euros where he played a vital role in Spain winning.

But it’s never as simple as that – life is full of ups and downs. After securing his place as Enzo Maresca’s favoured left back, he lost his place, seemingly out of nowhere. Reece James’ return from injury saw Cucurella dropped as James and then Malo Gusto were used as inverted full backs.

Cucurella philosophical about team selections

Speaking to the Chelsea website, the Spaniard was philosophical about the decision:

“The manager always decides who is in the team for the best way to plan the game, it doesn’t matter who plays. I know it’s difficult, I stayed two games on the bench before Arsenal, but this is part of the game. We know we have a lot of games, all the players believe we are important.”

A group photo of Chelsea celebrating a goal at Leicester. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)

“Maybe now I play, and then we have some weeks I don’t play, but we are a team. We know what we need to do and our responsibility and we want to stay in the best place, finish in the top four and make sure next season we play in the Champions League.”

With James now out – potentially for a long time – Cucurella should return to being the uncontested first choice on the left.