‘It changed very fast’ – Cucurella pleased with his own improvement at Chelsea

Marc Cucurella has attributed his upturn in form to feeling more confident at Chelsea under Enzo Maresca.

The Spaniard, who played a key role in his country’s Euro 2024 success, has completely transformed his Chelsea career after initially struggling to settle at Stamford Bridge.

“It’s changed very fast. I tried to work on me and what I can do better,” Cucurella said after Chelsea’s Conference League victory in Athens on Thursday night.

“I try to do my best for the team. We are in a good way. The manager gives us a lot of confidence and that’s it.

“We have a lot of games, all the players can play games, so we need to continue in this way. We have started to create something important so we need to keep going.

“It’s not easy. It’s the most difficult part of football. One day if you play badly, you feel like you are the worst player. Another day if you play good you might think you are the best.

“But you need to stay in the middle. If you lose, you’re not the worst. If you win, you’re not the best.

“Just stay there, focus on what you can improve and try to build on this and trust yourself. If you play for Chelsea, it’s because you have strong good qualities.

“In all careers, you have better and worse moments. But it’s about never stopping working and believing in yourself.”

Following his £60m move from Brighton two summers ago, Cucurella failed to meet expectations but fast forward 18 months and the 26-year-old is now a major hit with both club and country, emerging as one of the team’s leading figures, according to Maresca.

Chelsea’s strong start in all competitions has increased belief that their three-year wait for a trophy could end in Maresca’s first season in charge, after so much chop and change in recent years.

“Sometimes it’s difficult, we have a personal life, some problems, but now we are very good,” Cucurella continued.

“The team is playing well. I try to help. We need to build on this moment. We have a lot of confidence.

“We’re playing in a lot of competitions this year so we’ll try to win trophies. All of us dream of winning trophies. In the league, we know it’s difficult.

“You have teams who stay with the same project for a long time so there are a few teams in front of us but our objective, for sure, is to play in the Champions League next season.

“If we stay in the top four, it’s very important for us.”

Maresca is expected to make wholesale changes for today’s visit of Newcastle, with the likes of Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson all expected to return after missing the trip to Athens.