Spain star makes confident Saka prediction before Euro 2024 showdown

Spain star Marc Cucurella says he has the tools to blunt Bukayo Saka in Sunday night’s Euro 2024 final, while claiming that England’s best player has barely featured at the tournament.

Full back Cucurella has been a key player on the left side of La Roja’s defence and may face his sternest test yet against Arsenal forward Saka, who he has plenty of admiration for.

But the Chelsea defender says he is not even studying too much video footage because he already knows how to make Saka uncomfortable in a game when he confidently thinks will be defined by how Spain perform.

“I know how Saka plays. I don’t really need to watch a lot of footage as I normally watch all the Arsenal games. It is so tough to mark him, but those challenges are nice for me. Playing against rivals of such quality is nice, I’m sure we both can’t wait for it,” Cucurella told The Athletic.

“My main target is to make him feel uncomfortable. I also think that the game’s script will depend a lot on Spain and how we play, rather than what England do. If we dominate the ball as we’ve done and stay aware of the high pressure and everything we need to do to avoid counter-attacks, we’ll have plenty of chances to win.”

Cucurella, who was booed throughout Spain’s semi-final win over France because he had a late handball that went unpunished late on against Germany in the last eight, also fanned the flames by claiming clubmate Cole Palmer is the most feared member of Gareth Southgate ’s squad.

Palmer has only appeared off the bench at the Euros but did provide the pass for Ollie Watkins’ last-gasp winner to break the Netherlands’ hearts. And Cucurella said he is the player that is hardest to defend against while drawing comparisons to Spain starlet Yamine Lamal.

“He has not played a lot at Euro 2024, but it has to be Cole Palmer. 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.

“He arrived at a tough time for Chelsea, when the team was struggling, and he made an impact from the start. That helped him a lot to keep growing and getting more confident. If you manage to get those kinds of players in a situation of confidence, they make the difference. I’m so happy and hope he carries on like this… but after this weekend!

“He is a special character. He is so serious. When people see him, it’s not like he is instantly likeable. It’s difficult to explain, but when any team-mate sees me they instantly know I am up for a joke and that we can engage in that way. But he is always so serious.

“Still, we got along well, really quickly, since the first training sessions. We were doing mini-matches in training, five-a-side, and the coaches put us together in some. From there, we clicked. Whenever we were on the same team, we would never lose. We had this joke of being the winning team and that’s how our good bond started.”

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