'It’s easy to criticise when things aren’t good': Cucurella sends message to critics after Dortmund win

"This win is for everyone," Marc Cucurella told the official Chelsea website after the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund.

"In the bad moments we stayed together. Inside the dressing room the relationship between us is very good. You could see we played together, we ran for everyone, we had a team.

"This is very important because when the team wins it’s easy to stay together, but it’s in the difficult moments when you need to stay together. That is a real team.

"It’s easy when things aren’t good to criticise the players, but we are humans," Cucurella pointedly added.

"Maybe we have some problems in our personal lives. This is part of life, and sometimes people need to understand this.

"But we need to stay calm, keep working hard, and when you have the opportunity, put everything on the pitch for the team."

Cucurella was himself under fire for his performances in the first year at Stamford Bridge. later, it emerged that his form was affected by his house being burgled shortly after a move to Chelsea.

On Tuesday night, however, the Spaniard was hugely impressive and won the official Player of the Match award from UEFA.