Marc Cucurella has opened up on the prospect of facing Chelsea teammate Cole Palmer in Sunday's Euro 2024 final – and it's fair to say he isn't exactly keen on the idea.
Luis de la Fuente and his Spain side will be aiming to extend their unbeaten streak at Euro 2024 when they come up against England at Berlin's Olympiastadion.
La Roja notched wins over Croatia, Italy and Albania in Group B before seeing off Georgia, Germany and France.
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Widely regarded as the most in-form national team in world football, they are the betting favourites to bring it home as Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo and Nico Williams continue to shine.
But they will have to perform at their very best against Gareth Southgate's England, who are blessed with an array of talent, both on and off the bench.
In fact, ahead of this weekend's clash in Berlin, Spain full-back Marc Cucurella has urged Southgate to forget about using Cole Palmer on Sunday.
“I spoke with him, but it was over a week ago. We talked for a while in the previous rounds," he told Mundo Deportivo. “For me, it’s much better if he doesn’t play and stays on the bench.”
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Cucurella also gave an insight into what it's like to defend against Palmer, who has made the defender "suffer" since his £42.5 million transfer from Manchester City last summer.
"He has not played a lot at Euro 2024, but it has to be Cole Palmer," he told The Athletic.
“His football brain works so quickly, he is always a step ahead of the rest. His decision-making is almost always excellent, and that sort of intelligence is the most difficult thing to defend against, you just can’t predict what he’ll do next. I’ve suffered a lot in training.
“He reminds me a lot of Lamine Yamal. Same style of player. He is a guy who does not care too much about anything. They don’t take life or themselves too seriously. If you ran into Palmer in the streets, you would never tell he is a footballer. But then he plays and… oof.”
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Palmer, meanwhile, wants to "finish the job" on Sunday night. "Everyone's buzzing," the midfielder told England's official YouTube channel.
"Last night on the bus, tunes were on, [in the] changing room, everyone was just enjoying it.
"But obviously it's a short turnaround and it's a massive, massive game to change our lives, our family's lives, and to make everyone proud. That's what we're trying to do.
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"I think if you've got to this final then you have to hopefully finish the job. It's all good getting to the final, and you've got to enjoy it because you don't get many moments to enjoy. But, no, everyone just wants to win so bad."
Topics: Marc Cucurella, Spain, England, Euro 2024
Jack Kenmare