During Chelsea’s Champions League match against Real Madrid, Ben Chilwell received a red card, which led to the club’s fans criticizing Marc Cucurella for his defensive error.
Cucurella was brought in by Frank Lampard after Kalidou Koulibaly’s injury and quickly made an impact but in a negative way. He failed to track Rodrygo’s run, which ultimately led to Chilwell dragging him down and receiving a straight red card.
After this incident, Chelsea supporters took to social media to bemoan Cucurella’s defense, which they deemed to be a contributing factor to Chilwell’s red card.
Things go from bad to worse for Chelsea as Ben Chilwell sees red for this challenge on Rodrygo… 😳#UCL pic.twitter.com/TWBtE9hgmI
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 12, 2023
One Twitter user wrote: “Cucurella loses marker, by getting drawn out, doesn’t have the speed to get back, Chilwell panics and gets a red. Stop looking at the final action.”
A second tweeted: “Cucurella should have been sent off instead for that.”
A third added: “People are going to blame Chilwell, watch Cucurella get sucked in.”
A fourth said: “Cucurella completely loses Rodrygo, doesn’t have the athleticism to catch him, Chilwell does and fouls him.”
A fifth commented: “Cucurella basically got Chilwell sent off.”
Another fumed: “If Cucurella had marked his man, Chilwell wouldn’t need to do that.”
The 24-year-old was snapped up last summer after starring for Brighton last season. He moved to the club for an initial £55 million but has largely failed to impress – even when his old manager Graham Potter took over from Thomas Tuchel.
Just 15 minutes after Chelsea were reduced to 10 men, Real doubled their lead as Marco Asensio brilliantly slotted home from outside the box.
Karim Benzema gave his side the lead to keep up his prolific goal-scoring ways against English opposition.
The competition holders will take a two-goal advantage into next week’s second-leg at Stamford Bridge.