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Making his Marc: Will Cucurella break out the penguin in the US?
Marc Cucurella has been a key component in Enzo Maresca’s starting XI this season — and the roving left-back is now a firm fan favourite at Stamford Bridge.
He has discovered a taste for goals, with his penguin dance celebration delighting the Chelsea faithful. Will we see it during the FIFA Club World Cup?
Here, DAZN News assesses the impact of the Spain international during his goal-laden 2024-25 campaign.
When Chelsea pilfered the points with a 2-1 win at Fulham in April, Enzo Maresca joked that at least they had not been forced to rely on Marc Cucurella to get them out of jail.
“Fortunately it was not Cucu again,” said the Blues boss with a smile after late goals from teenager Tyrique George and Pedro Neto sealed a dramatic derby victory.
Maresca’s light-hearted comment said much for the importance of Cucurella to the Chelsea cause – he became their top scorer since mid-December with seven goals to his name.
As Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and others struggled to find the net during that period, Chelsea’s popular Spanish defender stepped up to the plate.
“This season I’ve scored goals,” reflected the former Brighton & Hove Albion man towards the end of the campaign.
“Hopefully I can score more. The manager said that sometimes it’s about being in good positions and the ball arrives.
“I understand what the manager demands to me. I proved that I can score a lot of goals.”
Chelsea will hope that Cucurella can reprise his goalscoring form in the US this summer at the Club World Cup.
The Spain international’s exploits for Maresca’s team this season have afforded him plenty of opportunities to perform his penguin celebration.
He explained that his post-goal theatrics are not related to infamously making a costly slip in a game against Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the season.
“The celebration, a lot of people think it’s because of this (slipping against Spurs),” said Cucurella.
“It’s because I saw in the internet that penguins choose one partner and family for their life. I want to remember my family.”
Surely even supporters of sworn enemies West Ham and Tottenham could empathise with Cucurella’s motivation behind his goal celebration.
Quite simply, the desire to do your family proud.
Cucurella added: “They always support me in my best and worst moments so the celebration is for them.”
Eyebrows were raised in August 2022 when Cucurella joined Chelsea in a deal worth more than £60million after only one season at Brighton.
He failed to score in his debut campaign at Stamford Bridge and found the net just once the following season in 2023-24.
But since scoring his first Premier League goal for the Blues in their 2-1 home win against Brentford in December – which incidentally, also saw his first red card in English football’s top flight for any club – Cucurella has proved largely unstoppable.
The goals continued to flow against Shamrock Rovers, Wolves, Southampton, Leicester, Legia Warsaw and Manchester United to underline his value to Maresca’s team.
The charismatic Spaniard with the long, dark locks will surely relish the opportunity to prove his worth – and maybe find the net – on the global stage in the Club World Cup.
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