‘Don’t take the p*ss’ – Chelsea star told to ‘shut your mouth’ after Man City defeat

Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella has been told to “shut your mouth” by Emmanuel Petit after Erling Haaland scored against the Blues on Sunday.

Enzo Maresca tasted defeat in his first competitive game in charge of the Blues against Manchester City after prolific striker Haaland and former Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic struck at Stamford Bridge.

Haaland outmuscled Cucurella in the box to score the opening goal of the match in a 2-0 win for the Citizens, which was particularly significant after the Spain international had taunted the Norwegian during the post-season break.

While celebrating Spain’s Euro 2024 final victory, Cucurella was videoed singing:  “Cucu, Cucurella, he eats paella, Cucu, Cucurella he drinks Estrella, Haaland you’d better tremble as Cucurella is coming.”

Speaking after the match on Sunday, Haaland responded: “Cucurella is a funny man. Last season he asked for my shirt… and this summer he sings a song about me.”

And former Chelsea midfielder Petit “found it funny” but urged Cucurella to avoid winding up his opponents in future to avoid a similar outcome.

Petit told Android Poker Apps: “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 piss out of your opponent, shut your mouth, win the game and trophies and that’s it, stay humble.”

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Raheem Sterling was left out of the Chelsea squad for Sunday’s 2-0 defeat by Man City and his representatives released a statement questioning the decision – a move which did not go down well with some former players.

Sterling joined Chelsea from City in 2022 and has made 81 appearances, scoring 19 goals.

But the 29-year-old could be the next victim of Chelsea’s oversized squad which currently consists of 42 players.

And Petit doubts that Sterling will be the last Chelsea player to express their frustration at the current situation at Stamford Bridge this season.

Petit added: “This example with Raheem Sterling is going to happen in every game for Chelsea because they have so many players, someone is going to be left out.

“I’m pretty sure there will be a lot of unhappy players at the club because of the squad size. How can you make a first XI with a new manager, new philosophy and loads of new players?

“The stability is not there, in the starting XI and on the bench. Sterling is the first example, many more cases will come.”