MARC CUCURELLA has vowed not to cut his flowing locks despite having his hair sneakily pulled by Cristian Romero in the Battle of the Bridge II.
Chelsea’s new £62million defender – who last had his curls tugged in an Under-12s match – insists the Tottenham star should have been sent off for the schoolboy foul in Sunday’s explosive 2-2 draw.
Cucurella admitted it hurt as Romero’s hair-pull hauled him to the ground at a corner, but when asked if he will now chop his famous barnet, he replied: “No. Never. This is my style.
“It’s strange, I remember only one other time I had a player do that.
“I was very young, I was in the academy Under-12s, but I never had another episode of this since.”
Neither ref Anthony Taylor nor VAR Mike Dean took any action and moments later, Harry Kane headed Spurs’ second equaliser six minutes into injury time to grab a Stamford Bridge draw.
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Furious Blues boss Thomas Tuchel blasted the officials, raging: “Since when has it been permitted to pull an opponent’s hair?”
And Cucurella, 24, added: “The referee in the stadium said they were checking a red card and for me, it’s very clear.
“The video is very clear.
“I don’t know what happened with the referee. It’s the same: you kick my leg, you pull my hair. But the referee didn’t understand.
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“This is football and in this game, it was an error. But in another game, the referee takes a good decision.
“This one is a referee or VAR error.”
But Cucurella says he bears no grudge to his 27-year-old Argentinian rival over the foul.
The former Brighton star said: “It was a fight on the pitch. I spoke with him before the game and I have no problem with him.
“It was only an action in the game, but an important action as it maybe changed the final result.”
The gaffer compared me with him which is very good for me
Marc Cucurella
Tuchel and Spurs boss Antonio Conte were both sent off after two furious touchline bust-ups, while Tuchel is also facing an FA charge after accusing Taylor of being bias against Chelsea and insisting he should never again be in charge of a Blues match.
It was reminiscent of the original explosive Battle of the Bridge six years ago which ended Spurs’ title hopes.
Cucurella added: “It was a derby and all derbies are difficult and have a good atmosphere.
“But the team played really well.”
Cucurella also revealed that news of Chelsea captain and fellow Spaniard Cesar Azpilicueta staying on was a huge factor in persuading him to join from the Seagulls.
He said: “I’m very happy with this because Azpilicueta is a legend here.
“The gaffer compared me with him which is very good for me.
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“I have a good responsibility to work hard and he helped me a lot with housing, schools, kids.
“It’s very good the captain is Spanish, I’m happy.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
