Chelsea have it all to do in their second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal after Wednesday night's 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
Prior to kick-off, there was growing optimism over a historical result for the Blues with Frank Lampard returning to the Champions League dugout and Chelsea owner Todd Boehly bizarrely predicting a 3-0 win for his club against the reigning European champions.
Sadly for Chelsea, this was far from the case as Real Madrid swept them away comfortably with a 2-0 first-leg win thanks to goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio.
Chelsea duo ridiculed by Jamie Carragher
Ben Chilwell was dismissed for Chelsea on the hour mark last night after deliberately pulling Rodrygo down on the edge of the box , and it was him alongside one of his fellow defenders that came under criticism from Jamie Carragher.
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Speaking after the game on CBS Sports Golazo, Carragher said:
And this, for me, is European football how Real Madrid change the pace of this game. Everyone stood still, standing in position, then Rodrygo gets his touch and before you know it ‘Boom!’ the pace in the game is quick.
But look at the body position here of Rodrygo compared to Cucurella. He is already on his way, Cucurella still hasn’t changed his body position to run back and on the far side, Ben Chilwell, when one of your centre-backs steps out the wing-back has to come in and fill that space.
You can’t do everything you’d like to do as a defender. You’d like to be tight and aggressive, but you’ve also got to remember who you’re playing against. Rodrygo is lightning-quick, so you can’t go fully in. Cucurella doesn’t go fully in, he gives himself a couple of yards – which is okay – but his problem is he doesn’t react.
When the ball goes and (Rodrygo) spins, Cucurella is still like this (stood still). He hasn’t changed the pace of the game and understood what is happening in that game.
Despite Cucurella's positioning being the initial problem that Carragher outlined, the former Liverpool defender said that Chilwell's decision to drag Rodrygo down meant he was at "more fault".
For me, Cucurella is at fault but that [from Chilwell] is even more at fault. Don’t pull someone back and give a red card away!
The reason you pay a goalkeeper is to do his job and to get you out of trouble defensively, that’s what he’s there for. Let him do his job. You’re then down to 10 men, he’s now going to miss the second leg, and it still would have been difficult for Rodrygo to score from there.
Going down to 10 men could have completely taken them out of that tie. There’s still a glimmer of hope, but defensively from Cucurella that was really poor and then Chilwell, the second part of it, his positional play and also getting the red card, let your goalkeeper do his job.
Marc Cucurella slammed by Jamie Carragher in January
It's not the first time that Marc Cucurella has been subject to criticism since his big money move to Stamford Bridge last summer and with Chilwell now suspended for the return leg, the Spaniard will likely be drafted in to Frank Lampard's starting XI after coming on as a substitute last night.
Back in January, Carragher slated Cucurella's performance against Manchester City after his torrid second half display against Pep Guardiola's side.
With the undeniable talent in Frank Lampard's squad and the amount of money that Chelsea has spent over the past nine months, it's a mystery as to why they are underperforming so much this campaign.
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