Why Marc Cucurella is being booed with every touch for Spain at Euro 2024? Chelsea defender slams fans over jeers

Marc Cucurella will be fearing more boos from fans during Spain’s Euro 2024 final clash against England tonight.

The Chelsea star was mercilessly jeered by the crowd at Munich’s Allianz Arena earlier this week, as La Roja beat France in the last-four with a 2-1 victory.

The reason why he was booed so loudly? That was because of what happened in the quarter-final against Germany.

There were German fans in the crowd who had perhaps expected their nation to progress to the final four.

However, the hosts lost out to Spain in the quarter-finals and there was controversy surrounding the result.

When the score was 1-1 in extra-time, a Jamal Musiala shot cannoned off the hand of Cucurella.

But neither of the English officials – referee Anthony Taylor and VAR Stuart Attwell – decided to award Julian Nagelsmann’s side a penalty.

They ruled that Cucurella’s arm was not in an unnatural position when the ball struck it, and UEFA later backed the call.

Spain went on to snatch victory in the closing stages of extra-time through Mikel Merino to knock out Germany.

The German fans were so furious at the decision not to award them a penalty that some even started a petition to get the game replayed, with more than 350,000 signing it.

And they took out their anger on Cucurella on Tuesday night, as the neutral fans in the stadium rounded on the Spanish full-back.

There were boos and whistles when his name was read out before the game and that continued every time he touched the ball.

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Cucurella told The Athletic: “I realised it for the first time when my name was read out before the game and a lot of people whistled.

“I thought about it a bit and then realised it was because of the handball situation.

“I didn’t think much about it, but at the same time I was a bit sad that people came to the game just to boo a single player.

“Some people wasted their tickets. They could have gone to fans who would have really enjoyed the game.”

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Spain manager Luis de la Fuente said it had motivated his player to perform better.

He said: “I don’t know the reason for the booing of Cucurella, but all it did was motivate him.

“I am against disrespect and those who booed do not represent German society.”

Spain star Daniel Vivian offered the strongest criticism, branding the treatment of his teammate as a ‘disgrace’.

“No player deserves this,” he said, as reported by Kicker.

“I think if you come onto a football pitch to boo someone, you have no respect for someone who is doing their job.”

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Germany boss Nagelsmann did not blame English ref Taylor for not giving the spot-kick against Cucurella, but called for a change in the handball rule.

Nagelsmann said: “When it happened, I couldn’t see it well and all I was thinking was: I hope it is a penalty. Afterwards I saw it on television more clearly but at that time that is all I could think. They were more lucky than we were.

“There is a rule and I hope there is no wrong decision. They applied the rule and it was not a penalty. I do not feel cheated. For me the question is about making it more practical, more logical, in terms of how this rule is assessed. I say this for football [in general] not today. You look at the hand, if it is at 3 o’clock, if it is a bit higher or a bit lower. But there are people with bigger muscles than me, different movements.

“I don’t understand why we don’t take into account what is happening with the ball. If Musiala kicks it towards Stuttgart centre and it hits the hand, I won’t say anything. But it was going towards goal. And for me, you should look at where it is going.

“Is it going into the clouds or is it going in the goal? In one case it is a penalty, in the other it is not. If it is going into the stands, then it is no penalty.

“The rule should be simpler. You can’t talk about intentions. You have to see where the ball is aimed. We have 50 robots that bring us our coffee so there should be an AI that calculates where the ball is going.”

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