Marc Cucurella, one of the most sought after left backs in the world today, has had a steep but steady journey to stardom.
Now an established left back for Spain, Cucurella came out of the much famed La Masia academy but never really got an opportunity to shine for Barcelona, making only one senior appearance for the club.
It is in England, where he truly showcased his full potential winning Brighton and Hove Albion player of the year in his only season for the Seagulls, which prompted a big money move to Chelsea.
After four years in West London, the 27-year-old is on the go again but this time it is a return to his native Spain. After securing his position as a world class left back, Cucurella answered Real Madrid’s call and signed for them this summer.
But before donning the Los Blancos jersey, right now, Cucurella can be seen giving his all in the La Roja shirt in the World Cup, where being the first choice left back, he has started both group stage games for the European Champions.
While Cucurella’s journey to the top was challenging, it is nothing compared to the off field challenges and mental battles he and his partner Claudia Rodríguez have to go through.
Marc and Claudia are in a long term relationship and the couple have three children in Mateo, Rio and Bella.
Among the three, their eldest son, Mateo was diagnosed with autism soon after Cucurella joined Chelsea in 2022 and it changed their life forever.
In an interview earlier, Cucurella said talking about the difficulties of raising an autistic child, “It’s difficult. Nobody teaches you how to be a parent, but in the end, you see. An autistic child doesn’t understand things like his siblings, you have to learn to understand him. It affects him a lot, you don’t see him well and you don’t know how to help him. He didn’t do well at regular school, he got upset, he wasn’t happy. He didn’t adapt, he stayed crying all the time. He would spend two or three hours and he didn’t like it, we had to go and get him. That also affects you a lot, you don’t see your child well and you don’t know how to help him.“
Cucurella admitted that in Mateo’s case everything is bit harder for them and the couple once again opened up about their emotional struggles coping up with this in the series two of Amazon Prime’s Married To The Game.
In the series, in an up close and personal interview, Cucurella shared that their lives are centered around Mateo’s needs, often limiting other activities to ensure he has the necessary routine and therapies.
His partner Claudia said, “We saw that some things were different from the other kids. We didn’t find too much help from the school and we had our worst months. Every day we went together to drop Mateo off – I was pregnant with Rio as well – and we went back home every day crying.”
Cucurella, visibly emotional, broke down in tears as she said that and continued, “Okay, your kid is autistic, but the parents are not ready with this so we need to learn a lot.”
Talking about the hardships further, Claudia said, “When we moved to Chelsea, we started him at school and he was very upset, and we didn’t know the solution. You prepared to be a mum, but not to be a mum of an autistic kid, so you feel bad. It was very, very difficult to see him like that, so upset, and we just tried to find the best solution. I told Marc we had to find a special school for him because he wasn’t learning, he wasn’t enjoying his life. I didn’t want to lose any more time, we had to do something.”
She continued, ”So I found an amazing place in London where they understood him and they understood his needs, so we moved him there and our lives changed completely. At first I drove him there from our house in Cobham but it was two hours to drive in the morning and another two hours to pick him up again. I was in the car all day long.”
Autism, especially in children, can make it difficult to process emotions and deal with changes, often prompting inconsolable tears.
That is where the real struggle creeps in, as it is very common for footballers to change clubs and invariably change places due to that. But that is not something that autistic kids are very fond of.
The couple in the past have stated that in such cases they always have to think about Mateo and that is why even holidays are difficult for them, let alone leaving the English capital for Spanish capital.
While it may be difficult for Mateo to adapt to a new city, Cucurella talking about his recent move to Madrid, has stated that he considered all the possibilities and facilities for his family and children before making the move.
He stated that, “I wouldn’t go to any team where I couldn’t find schools or therapies that would suit my son. My family comes first. It’s incredibly important to us.”
On the footballing part, despite all the difficulties off the field, Cucurella has already won multiple trophies in it during his tenure at Chelsea and has an European Championship medal with Spain as well.
He will be looking to add a World Cup medal to his CV, as Spain has started the tournament well and are considered the favorites to lift the trophy.
