Former Arsenal midfielder, Emmanuel Petit has slammed Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella after the Blues fell to a 2-0 defeat against Erling Haaland’s Manchester City over the weekend.
The former France international advised the 26-year-old Spain defender to ‘stay humble’, shut his mouth and do the talking with his legs on the pitch and not to take ‘the p*ss out of the opponent’ before games.
DAILY POST reports that after Cucurella won the EURO 2024 title with Spain earlier in the summer, the Chelsea left-back brought out a chant aimed at Haaland during the victory celebrations.
Poking Haaland backfired on Cucurella in Chelsea’s opening game of the 2024-25 Premier League season against City.
The Norwegian put the Cityzens in front in the 18th minute, out-muscling Cucurella and leaving him in his tracks in the build-up.
Petit told Android Poker Apps that the defeat should serve as an important lesson to the Spaniard about insulting opponents before key fixtures.
“Erling Haaland scoring against Marc Cucurella is probably karma. It reminds me of times before big games when I was playing and some players would say a lot in press conferences.
“In my teams, we always said never to talk big about a player before a game otherwise that could turn into a weapon against us. That talk could motivate the opposition’s player to perform even better, like it did to Haaland.
“At the end of the day, people will say Cucurella got what he deserved and he’ll learn from it but I found it funny. Next time, don’t take the p*ss out of your opponent, shut your mouth, win the game and trophies and that’s it, stay humble.”