Frank Lampard has been criticised for his his decision to bring Marc Cucurella on in place of the injured Kalidou Koulibaly for Chelsea against Real Madrid. After sprinting back to recover the ball from his own defensive mishap, Koulibaly began holding his hamstring before later dropping to the floor in need of medical treatment.
It soon became very clear the former Napoli man could not continue and he was promptly replaced by Cucurella. For the weekend Premier League fixture against Wolves, Cucurella started at left-back with Ben Chilwell on the bench but Lampard opted for the latter in European action on Wednesday evening.
With Cucurella on the left of the back three and Chilwell at left wing-back, the duo were in the exact same handed to them for the last-16 second leg victory against Borussia Dortmund where they combined to great affect. However, in Madrid, the same outcome was not on show as both were at fault for Chilwell's second half dismissal.
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Cucurella's sharpness into tackles benefitted Chelsea significantly in the last round but it was his downfall against Madrid. In an attempt to win possession, the summer signing was drawn into midfield which allowed Rodrygo to exploit the huge gap left. The covering Chilwell was then brought the Madrid forward down and was therefore sent off for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity even though he was approaching the Chelsea goal at a difficult angle.
Through suspension, Chilwell will miss the second leg which likely guarantees a start for Cucurella. Koulibaly's injury being serious would also put him out of next Wednesday's return leg thus handing Lampard a significant defensive dilemma.
The chance of Lampard reverting to a back four has likely now increased, but there is also the option of playing Trevoh Chalobah. In fact former Chelsea man Steve Nicol thinks the interim head coach should have brought him on for Koulibaly in Madrid and the decision to not do so cost the Blues.
“The decision that Frank made to bring on Cucurella and play him at centre back absolutely cost them big time. I thought it was a bad move. I understand if you’ve got nobody else on the bench, but you’ve got a centre-back on the bench; you’ve got [Trevoh] Chalobah on the bench,” Nicol told ESPN.
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