Roberto Carlos: "When Messi dribbled past Cannavaro and me, and ran over us, and the match ended, I turned to Cannavaro and said: 'My God, who is this player? He's the new Maradona.'
'I'm lucky. I don’t have much time left before I retire. How will the next generation of defenders cope? They’ll really struggle with him. I knew he’d be the best player in the world. In the future, he would win everything. I'm happy because I watched him more than I played against him.'"
🚨 Marc Cucurella on His Toughest Opponent — And What Really Happened with Messi
Reporter:
“Who is the toughest opponent you’ve ever faced?”
🗣️:“Lionel Messi.”
Reporter:
“You’ve faced a lot of top wingers in their prime — Lamine Yamal, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembélé and more. What makes a 39-year-old Messi stand out compared to all of them?”
Cucurella:
“I think he’s only 39 in numbers… in reality, he’s like 25. I’ve never seen anything like it. He kept me staying back for the whole 90 minutes because I was scared of what he could do if I left him space. Normally, I like to overlap and attack, but with him, you just can’t take that risk.”
Reporter:
“So even when you tried to contain him, it wasn’t enough?”
🗣️:
“I tried my best to keep him quiet, and for a while I thought I was doing okay… but everything changed immediately Ferran scored. That’s when I saw the real side of him.”
Reporter:
“What do you mean?”
Cucurella:
“He became unstoppable. Those last 15 minutes… I can honestly say it was the most difficult 15 minutes of my life. Every time he got the ball, something dangerous was about to happen. I had to start calling Laporte for support because I couldn’t handle him alone anymore.”
Reporter:
“There was also that moment between you and Messi that almost led to a red card. What happened there?”
Cucurella:
“I was just trying to talk to him politely, explaining it wasn’t a foul. But I forgot about the new rule regarding covering your mouth — something players have been used to for years. I won’t lie, I got very lucky not to get a red card. We’ve seen others get punished for the same thing in this tournament.”
Reporter:
“So nothing serious between you and him?”
Cucurella:
“Nothing at all. I respect him a lot. After the match, he congratulated me and told me I’ll retire as one of the best left-backs in the world. Hearing that from the greatest of all time… it means everything. That’s something I’ll carry with me forever
39-latek, w 93. minucie pizga podanie na wagę finału. Słabszą nogą. Na plecach świeżego obrońcy. 8G+4A na tym turnieju. Zamyka mordy wszystkim jak leci.
Nie było, nie ma i nie będzie lepszego.