UCL: Potter celebrates ‘Player of the Match’ Cucurella vs Dortmund

Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella was named Player of the Match after a run out of the team during their UCL round of 16-second leg match vs German side Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.

The Blues manager Graham Potter in a post-match statement said he was happy for Cucurella, who had been under criticism at Chelsea over his form.

Potter revealed the former Brighton defender got an opportunity to play due to Benoit’s unavailability.

Potter said in a statement via Chelsea’s website, ‘I’m delighted for him. When you’re having a bad time like we’ve had, you accept the criticism, and you have to deal with it. Marc has dealt with it well. We’ve tried to shield him a little bit in the sense of picking his moment.

‘Regardless of his situation, with Benoit not available I thought he would give us that left-footed balance in the back three, and he put in a top performance.’

Chelsea won the game by a 2-0 scoreline thanks to effort from Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz.