Marc Cucurella insists Chelsea can learn a valuable lesson from their Club World Cup defeat to Flamengo.
Pedro Neto had put the Blues ahead but the Brazilians ran out 3-1 winners following three second half goals. With Nicolas Jackson seeing red, Enzo Maresca’s men were reduced to 10 men and Flamengo firmly took control of Group D.
Chelsea meet ES Tunis on Tuesday night and know a draw will guarantee progression to the round of 16. “When we conceded the first goal we needed to manage the game better, to have more passing, control the situations better and not concede another easy goal similar to the first one,” Cucurella told the official Chelsea website.
“It’s true these things happened last season in the Premier League but we are here to learn, to see the clips to see where we can improve and then do better in the next game. I think in a lot of games we are doing well.
“In the last ten games we played, we had a lot of clean sheets so we are doing better in this aspect, but Flamengo also have a good team and they are in the middle of the season and physically did better than us in this moment.
“They also played in the heat and maybe these things we can control better, but it’s better it happens now in these stages rather than in the later rounds so we can learn and improve now.”
Chelsea’s fate remains very much in their own hands ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with ES Tunis, who overcame LAFC 1-0. “If we win the next game then we will go through,” the Spaniard said.
“That’s the most important thing but we need to rest now and be ready for the next game. Flamengo have a lot of talent but if we play in another moment, then we can maybe beat them.
“Maybe now is the moment to lose and if we go through that is the moment to show our qualities. We can still go through and we can learn from this and that’s it.”
