Reason Spain's Marc Cucurella is being booed as Chelsea star targeted by Euros fans

Spain’s Marc Cucurella has been on the receiving end of persistent booing throughout the Euro 2024 tournament, which tracks back to a controversial handball incident against Germany in the quarter-final.

The Chelsea defender has been a stalwart presence in the line-up for the three-time European champions, featuring in all their matches bar one, on their journey to the tournament’s final against England on Sunday. Despite his dependable performances for La Roja, the 25-year-old bore the brunt of unrelenting jeers during the team’s 2-1 semi-final victory over France last week at the Allianz Arena.

The Spaniard was met with boos each time he made contact with the ball with the negative crowd reaction initially implicating French supporters as the source, however, further investigation revealed that it was neutral Germany fans housed in FC Bayern Munich’s home stadium who were culpable.

Their rage directed towards the defender stems from an incident earlier this month when he was unpunished for a handball offence when Jamal Musiala’s shot struck his left hand in Spain’s 2-1 extra-time triumph over the competition’s hosts. The BBC’s Steve Wilson brought clarity to the situation during commentary in the first half of the semi-final match.

“We think we’ve worked out why Marc Cucurella is getting booed, by the way,” the commentator disclosed. “The reason is because the German press has made a lot of this, in the game against Germany, they had a shot, which hit Cucurella on the hand inside the penalty area.

“They felt the hand was away from the body, it was on the front page of the German papers the other day, I thought he was getting booed by the French fans. It’s not, it’s the German fans who feel they should be in this semi-final.”

Premier League referee Anthony Taylor’s decision not to award a penalty has been supported by UEFA, with the footballing body agreeing with the official’s on-field decision having stated that “Cucurella’s hand was not in an unnatural position at the time it was hit by the ball”.

Despite UEFA’s statement, German fans remain incensed, with a staggering 30,000 supporters having signed an online petition demanding a replay of the quarter-final match against the finalists.