Cucurella talks Mbappe, Vinicius, Rodri, Barcelona’s interest, Ballon d’Or, derby defeat

Cucurella talks Mbappe, Vinicius, Rodri, Barcelona’s interest, Ballon d’Or, derby defeat Marc Cucurella has given a detailed insight into life at Real Madrid , addressing the fallout from the Madrid derby, his conversation with Rodri before the midfielder chose Barcelona, and the challenge of finding the right balance in attack and defence. Speaking to El Larguero (h/t AS ), the Real Madrid defender also explained why he believes the referee had a significant influence on the derby and revealed that Madrid were the club that showed genuine interest in signing him. The defender was first asked whether he had spoken to Rodri about joining Real Madrid and whether he would have liked to share a dressing room with his Spain teammate. Cucurella admits he tried to influence Rodri Cucurella made no secret of his desire to see Rodri move to Madrid, although he stressed that he did not want to put excessive pressure on the midfielder over a personal decision. “Yes, I would have liked that because he’s a great player; we’ve already seen what he’s capable of here with the national team. “That said, it’s true that I don’t really like to put pressure on or influence my teammates because these are personal matters. “I did send him a subtle message before it became public knowledge, telling him I hoped we’d be teammates, but in the end he made a different decision. “He replied with a standard message and decided otherwise. I’m happy for him; I hope he doesn’t have too much success because that will mean we’re the ones who are successful.” Cucurella was also asked about the Ballon d’Or race, where he refused to choose between his Madrid teammates and Spain’s leading candidates. Cucurella says he tried to convince Rodri to join Real Madrid. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images) “I wouldn’t want to take sides. For better or worse, I’m lucky enough to be able to play alongside two or three of the current Ballon d’Or nominees. That’s an experience and something I’ll cherish forever. “If a Spaniard wins it, it’ll be well deserved, because at the end of the day, the World Cup we’ve played in… and then if Kylian wins it, I’ll also be happy for a teammate who’s been the all-time top scorer, won the Golden Boot – and that’s no mean feat. “I’d sign up for what Mbappe has achieved right now with my eyes closed; it seems easy for him because he scores so many goals, but we must also recognise that achieving those feats is incredibly difficult.” Real Madrid still working on their balance Cucurella also discussed the defensive responsibilities of Vinicius Jr. and Kylian Mbappe, explaining why Madrid can sometimes become stretched when their attacking players push forward. “The situations are different. I imagine myself as Vinicius or Mbappe, and every time I got the ball, I’d try to drive forward like a beast and try to score goals. “I’m speaking as a defender; often this means we end up very spread out, but it’s not their fault, it’s ours. We need to get forward quicker. These are things we need to fine-tune to become the team we want to be. “We often end up disjointed; sometimes we attack too quickly and don’t hold the ball up. It’s difficult because everyone’s doing it with good intentions. “Some want to score goals, the defenders want to defend, the midfielders try to play the ball, and bit by bit, we have to start working together to know when to move quickly, when to keep possession and when to settle with the ball.  Cucurella has deeply analysed Real Madrid’s performance. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images) “We’re working on it; we’re having video sessions, and it’s still early days.” That need for greater cohesion was particularly relevant after the derby, which Cucurella believes was altered significantly by the key refereeing decisions. “I don’t like to say we lost because of the referee because if we’d scored four goals, we’d surely have won and it wouldn’t have mattered what the referee did, but I do think so. “In a match of this calibre, I think it did have quite a big influence. You could see it was very evenly matched until we were awarded the penalty and the red card, which threw things off balance a bit. “If he’d shown a red card to one of their players in any of those incidents, it wouldn’t have guaranteed victory, but these days, given the standard of football, I think being a man down makes a huge difference.” Cucurella reveals why he chose Real Madrid Cucurella was finally asked whether Barcelona or Atlético had previously shown interest in signing him. “It’s true that my agent received some calls, but that was all. It can’t really be considered genuine interest. “The club that was genuinely interested in me was Madrid, and they moved very quickly. I’m very happy about that and about having made the decision to come here,” he concluded.