Marc Cucurella was lucky to avoid red card in Chelsea 4-4 Man City | OneFootball

Highlights

Marc Cucurella was at the centre of attention on a couple of times for Chelsea as they played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with Manchester City this weekend. The Spanish left-back hasn't enjoyed a great time in West London since his £63m move from Brighton in 2022 but has had a sustained run in the team of late due to a long-term injury for Ben Chilwell.

There was actually talk that the defender could be loaned out to rivals Manchester United in the summer, but he eventually stayed put with the Red Devils hesitant to pay a supposed £7m loan fee request from the Blues. Football is a funny old game and with Cucurella staying put he has, as mentioned before, suddenly been given a real chance to impress under new manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Cucurella's Chelsea form steadily improving

After not playing a single minute in the first six Premier League games of the season, the fullback has played in all of the next six (starting five of those games) – with Chelsea losing just once in that time. Indeed, Cucurella's form and the club's have both started to gradually improve of late but they were given a huge test on Sunday afternoon.

Playing at Stamford Bridge, the Blues hosted reigning champions Manchester City and it was an error in judgement from Cucurella which helped break the deadlock. Just after the 20-minute mark, the 25-year-old found himself in a tussle with Erling Haaland. He wrestled with the striker inside his own box but overstepped the mark in the eyes of referee Anthony Taylor, who pointed to the spot. After a VAR check, the decision stood and the City man made no mistake from 12 yards.

Cucurella was also booked for his foul and so would have to play out the remainder of the game on a tightrope. This must have been pretty difficult as the rest of the game turned out to be one of pure drama. After all, seven goals would then follow over the next 70 minutes or so with Cole Palmer netting a 95th-minute penalty to level the scores as 4-4, just when it looked as though Rodi had scored the winner nine minutes earlier.

Cucurella dives vs Man City

Things could have ended a little differently, however, had Chelsea been reduced to 10 men. With the game in the balance during the second half, and with Cucurella already on a yellow card, the defender went in for a challenge with Phil Foden.

As you can see in the footage below, the Man City player looks as though he's going to try and kick either the ball or the player but then pulls out before committing to the tackle. However, sensing a potential rash moment, the Chelsea left-back hurls himself to the ground. It's an absolutely atrocious dive and with referee Taylor in clear view, Cucurella is very fortunate not to have been handed a second yellow card. On the Sky Sports commentary, Jamie Carragher even said: "Oh no, what a dive!"

To make things worse from a Man City point of view, their own player Jérémy Doku had been booked earlier on in the match when he dived to try and win a penalty, so it wouldn't have been particularly harsh to see a yellow card handed out for this similar incident of poor sportsmanship.

In the end, both teams just had to settle for a point a piece in what was one of the most entertaining games of the season so far. The draw leaves Man City top of the league going into the break, while Chelsea are now tenth.