‘It’s much better if he doesn’t play’
Spain and Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella has highlighted the one England player he hopes will stay on the bench.
The two sides will face each other in the Euros final showpiece tonight in Berlin as four weeks of football comes to a dramatic climax.
Cucurella has been a mainstay in Spain’s Euros squad, starting ahead of Bayer Leverkusen’s Alex Grimaldo.
The 25-year-old has been in touch with club teammate, Cole Palmer throughout the tournament and though Palmer has only been involved as an occasional substitute in Gareth Southgate’s side, Cucurella fears coming up against the 22-year old.
Cucurella told Spanish publication, Mundo Deportivo: “I spoke with him, but it was over a week ago. We talked for a while in the previous rounds. For me, it’s much better if he doesn’t play and stays on the bench.”
Despite not getting a great deal of game time, when he has been on the pitch, Palmer has made a difference.
He stepped up to take the first penalty in that quarter-final shoot-out against Switzerland and provided the assist for Ollie Watkins winner in the semi-final against the Netherlands.
Cucurella also revealed that manager, De la Fuente has sought his players advice on how to overcome their club teammates.
“Today we had our first talk and we discussed it a bit. But he has Rodri, who knows more about English football than I do. I suppose that if he has doubts, we can give him different points of view.
“We are going to approach the game as we have done for every other match so far. If we are at our best level, we have a good chance of winning.”
Prior to the tournament, England were favourites to win but having seen their sometimes-lacklustre performances compared to Spain’s confident style of play, it is the Spanish who are favourites to win tonight’s final.
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