Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella could be in trouble with boot manufacturer Puma after he binned a pair of boots which had caused him to slip over twice in Sunday’s 4-2 win over Tottenham.
Cucurella lost his footing twice in the first half against Spurs, with both slips leading to Tottenham’s two goals.
After the second embarrassing fall, the Spaniard raced over to the touchline to change his footwear.
German sportswear brand Puma recently launched their new, £220 Future 8 boots. But having slipped over twice, Puma ambassador Cucurella discarded his pair and hastily changed into a different set of Puma boots.
🔵🆕 New boots for Marc Cucurella. 👟 pic.twitter.com/w069uJufjw
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 8, 2024
The incident was already unfortunate for Puma, but quickly turned into a PR nightmare.
Marc Cucurella Deletes Photo Of Binned Puma Boots
After the victory over Tottenham, Cucurella posted an image of the offending boots on his social media story.
He had chucked his pair of Puma Future 8’s in the changing room bin, with the caption ‘sorry blues…”
Cucurella has put his boots in the 🗑️ pic.twitter.com/2MzuVz5jz6
— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) December 8, 2024
He deleted the post shortly afterwards, but not before it had been seen and shared thousands of times.
With potentially millions of fans across the world hoping for some new boots for Christmas, they may now reconsider purchasing a set of Pumas.
The brand is already below its sales target for the third quarter of 2024.
Puma CEO Arne Freundt did offer an encouraging message last month, though.
He said: “Talking to the retailers both in Europe and the U.S., I think we are quite confident about the demand going into the important shopping season.”
But this incident will have done little to boost the reputation of their new product.
Pundits And Commentators Slam Cucurella For Slips
During the Tottenham match, Sky Sports’ commentary team were less than sympathetic towards Cucurella.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher questioned why the Chelsea man had not noticed the problem while warming up.
“Cucurella’s coming to the bench, don’t blame anyone else – it’s your own fault, son!” Carragher said.
“Absolute schoolboy stuff. Embarrassing.
“He slips again. Look at him shrugging his shoulders. Did he not do a warm-up?”
Meanwhile, Peter Drury offered a witty barb in his own trademark style.
He added: “Well, it’s pantomime season, and like Cinderella, Cucurella needs a slipper that fits!”
The change in footwear certainly had the desired effect for Cucurella and Chelsea, though. After replacing his boots, Cucurella grabbed the assist for Jadon Sancho’s goal, and the Blues went on to dominate the match and win 4-3 thanks to a brace of Cole Palmer penalties and a rocket from Enzo Fernandez.
Son Heung-Min grabbed a late consolation for Spurs, but it was Chelsea who took the victory.
