Marc Cucurella has said that Chelsea must prove that they are a big club by competing for major honours and embracing their status as favourites to win the Uefa Conference League.
With Enzo Maresca ready to unleash Cole Palmer on the Conference League after bringing his star attacker into the squad for the knockout stages, Cucurella admitted that age can be no excuse in the first leg of Thursday’s last-16 tie against FC Copenhagen. The left-back emphasised the importance of showing the right mentality and accepted that the pressure is on Chelsea to win silverware for the first time since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club in 2022.
“We have confidence and tomorrow is another opportunity to show that we are ready,” Cucurella said. “Now we need to do the last step for the last part of the season. I think it’s a good moment to show that we are ready to fight for big things. Being a younger squad doesn’t matter. We need to show we are maturing. It doesn’t matter if you win 10 games, 11 or five, the most important thing at the end of the season is where you finish, how many trophies you win.”
Chelsea have far greater resources than Copenhagen, who have omitted their key attacker, Mohamed Elyounoussi, in their squad as they manage his return from injury. It was put to Cucurella that it would be a disappointment if Maresca’s side fail to win the competition.
“For sure,” the Spain international said. “I think we are a top club. We have a lot of players with skill and abilities, and we need to feel we can win the competition.”
It is a sign of Chelsea’s strength that they were able to cruise into the last 16 despite managing Palmer’s minutes by leaving him out of their squad for the league phase. But the stakes are higher now and Maresca said it was always the plan to bring the 22-year-old into the picture at this stage. There is no indication that Palmer sees himself as too big for the Conference League. “Cole is excited to play training sessions,” Maresca said. “He is excited to play these games.”
Maresca, who will start Robert Sánchez in goal, is encouraged that Chelsea’s injury problems in central defence are easing. Benoît Badiashile and Trevoh Chalobah are available after returning to fitness and Wesley Fofana, who is not in the Conference League squad, is back. Roméo Lavia, the Belgian midfielder, has returned to training.
