“It’s a big mistake” – Marc Cucurella blames Jackson red card for Chelsea defeat | OneFootball

While we’re still waiting to hear from Enzo Maresca in his press conference, Marc Cucurella has stepped up to speak to the NBC Sports cameras.

He was as deflated as you’d imagine given the circumstances. Everything was built up to this game, with potential Champions League qualification on the line. Chelsea knew they had to be calm, mature and composed. Instead, they conceded after 2 minutes, then saw their problems compounded when Nicolas Jackson made the crazy decision to send an arm in the direction of Sven Botman’s throat.

He saw red, and from that moment it was almost an impossible task for Chelsea, even though they did make a fist of it.

Cucurella on disappointed Chelsea and Jackson’s “big mistake”

The forearm smash which saw Nicolas Jackson sent off.

“We are really disappointed. We know it was an important game and we lose. We are a bit upset. I think at this point the most important thing is it still depends on us to achieve our objective. We need to be proud of the second half,” the full back said.

“[Jackson] didn’t say anything [in the dressing room]. I think he’s a bit upset. He wants to help the team but these things happen. Maybe with 11 players all the game maybe we could have done the comeback. These things happen,” Cucurella continued, unafraid to admit that it was the red which killed a comeback chance.

“Now we lose Nico for the next games. It’s a big mistake but the good thing is we have other players ready. All of us, we need to be important. Now is the moment to forget this game and think about the next one.”

Do we have other players ready? Sure, we have teenage wingers we can play up top. But it’s hardly an ideal replacement for our first choice striker.