Marc Cucurella reveals similarities between Cole Palmer and Lamine Yamal

Spain international Marc Cucurella has revealed the similarities between Chelsea team-mate Cole Palmer and teammate Lamine Yamal ahead of Sunday’s game. Euro 2024 final against England.

After enjoying a fine debut season for the Blues, Palmer was included in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the tournament in Germany but was restricted to 126 minutes of game time, all coming as a substitute.

However, he was instrumental in the semi-final victory over the Netherlands, providing the assist for Ollie Watkins’ surprise winner.

Barcelona youngster Lamine Yamal is one of Spain’s biggest threats, having enjoyed a fine run during the competition so far.

Asked by Athletic if there was one England player he struggled to defend against, Cucurella backed his team-mate Palmer and named the same between him and Yamal.

He said: “He hasn’t played much at Euro 2024, but it has to be Cole Palmer. His football brain works very quickly, he is always ahead of others. His decision-making is almost always very good, and that kind of intelligence is something that is very difficult to defend against, you just can’t predict that what will he do next I suffered a lot in training.

“He reminds me a lot of Lamine Yamal. Same style of player. He’s a guy who doesn’t care about anything. They don’t take life or themselves too seriously. If you meet Palmer on the streets, you’d walk away. never tell he’s a football player.

“He came at a difficult time for Chelsea, the team was struggling, he had an impact from the start. That helped him a lot to continue to grow and his confidence. If you can get those types of players in a difficult situation. of confidence, they make a difference I’m very happy and I hope he continues like this…but after this weekend!

“He is a special character. He is very determined. When people see him, it’s not like he’s instantly likable. It’s hard to explain, but when any team player sees me, he knows that I made a joke and that we can hang out. That way, but he’s always serious.

“However, we got along very well, very quickly, from the first training sessions. We were doing mini-matches in training, five-a-side, and the coaches put us together in others. From there, we clicked. Whenever we are in the same team, we will never lose.

Cucurella has enjoyed a renewal with Spain at Euro 2024 after being sent off at Stamford Bridge and will start at left-back in Berlin.

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