One Spaniard is the unlucky recipient of the crowd's vitriol - well, the sections of the crowd who aren't even French
(Image credit: Boris Streubel - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Poor Marc Cucurella. When the Chelsea star first touched the ball during Spain vs France in the semi-final of Euro 2024, he must have wondered what he'd done to upset the French.
The left-back has been polarising at club level since his move to the Blues, while some were surprised that Cucurella earned a slot in Luis de la Fuente's XI ahead of Bayer Leverkusen star Alex Grimaldo.
Every time the 25-year-old gets on the ball, he's jeered, whistled and booed. But not by the French fans, at all: it's by Germans, who are angry with Cucurella for handling the ball in the penalty area against them in the quarter-final. Anthony Taylor didn't give it, by the way, as if you had to ask.
You've seen them given, right? (Image credit: Getty Images)
With both sides looking particularly sharp in attack, it was the French who drew blood first with a Randal Kolo Muani header breaking the deadlock in the first 10 minutes. 38-year-old right-back Jesus Navas dropped far too deep against Kylian Mbappe, allowing the mercurial forward to whip a ball onto the head of his former Paris Saint-Germain team-mate.
The winner of this one takes a place in Sunday's final.
Mark White is the Digital Content Editor at FourFourTwo. During his time on the brand, Mark has written three cover features on Mikel Arteta, Martin Odegaard and the Invincibles, and has written pieces on subjects ranging from Sir Bobby Robson’s time at Barcelona to the career of Robinho. An encyclopedia of football trivia and collector of shirts, he first joined the team back in 2020 as a staff writer.
