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Player reportPremier League 2025/26

Marc Cucurella

Real Madrid
Defensive full-back FB
13.0 defensive actions/90 · low final-third share 26%
full-backinverted full-backprogressioncrossing
2980
minutes
34 apps
86%
pass completion
1665 passes
120
progressive passes
3.6/90
114
final-3rd entries
3.4/90
13
box entries
0.39/90
431
defensive actions
13.0/90
87
tackles + interceptions
73% tackle win
6
dribbles
17% won
Overview

The player

Who he is and how he compares with his peers.

01

What Patterns Define Him?

His repeatable signature. A step only appears if its reliability score (sample size × match coverage) reaches at least Medium confidence — pattern mining, not anecdotes.

RECEIVE
Left Wing, Middle third — wide or inverted — mostly in the middle third (52% of his 1665 passes)
86% completion · 1665× in 34/34 matches
↓
PROGRESS
carry or combine up the flank
3.6 prog/90 · 120× in 31/34 matches
↓
DELIVER
cross or cut-back into the box
33 key passes · 13× in 11/34 matches
↓
DEFEND
1v1 and cover on his side
431 def actions · lost 29% deep · 431× in 34/34 matches
Signature: Receive → Progress → Deliver → Defend — the only steps proven repeatable this season (4 of 5 in the full pattern). Not enough evidence yet for the rest of the chain below.
Not a pattern: dribble — 6× (low confidence, shown as a number only, no tactical conclusion drawn) — omitted from the signature rather than presented as one.
19

Where is he influential — vs where is he merely present?

Red fill = raw touch territory. Gold rings = zones where his influence (xT added, progression, line-breaks, key passes) outweighs how often he's actually there — one combined map instead of two separate maps to compare by eye. Red with no ring: present but not dangerous. A ring on faint red: rare touches, outsized impact.

own goal left, attacking →
49
passes / match
13.0
def actions / 90
9–88
pass range (matches)
101
clearances
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (9 at the low end, 88 at the high) — a measure of match-to-match involvement, not pass distance.
In possession

In possession

What he does with the ball: build-up, progression, creation, carrying and finishing.

08

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

226 tracked carries (6.8/90, 74 progressive, 2077m total) — the ball moving with his touches, a different signal from dribbles below (beating an opponent 1v1). even a player who rarely dribbles past a man can still carry the ball forward constantly in build-up; this is that.

0%1%2%6%4%2%0%1%21%33%14%9%6%
progressivelateral/short% of his 226 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 8m, longest 42m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
12Outside → Inside
90Inside → Inside
97Outside → Outside
27Inside → Outside
First (95)Second (68)Third (55)Fourth (8)grouped by carry pattern (start + end position), largest group first
startendown goal left, attacking →

Beaten in the tackle

How often an attacker gets past him in a 1v1 defensive duel — the closest signal the data has to "dribbled past" (no attacker-beat-defender field exists directly, so this counts tackles he attempted and lost).

55
tackle duels
40
won
15
beaten · 27%
brighter band = more tackle duels · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 36%
OUTSIDE 64%
Tackle-duel location — 20 inside · 35 outside
Right Wing
1 · 2%
Right Half-Space
0 · 0%
Central
8 · 15%
Left Half-Space
12 · 22%
Left Wing
34 · 62%
Vision AI beaten in 15 of 55 tackle duels (27% loss rate) — a solid 1v1 defensive record.
Every tackle duel, exact location
wonlost — dribbled pastown goal left, attacking →

He attempted only 6 dribbles of his own all season — dribbling is not part of this role; his ball-carrying is covered above, his defending against the dribble below.

03

How does he build & move the ball?

How does he escape the first line?

13%
vertical passes
95×
1%
switches
9×
20%
carries
142×
66%
short circulation
473×
Answer: he escapes the press primarily through carrying — stepping out with the ball.

How he moves the ball — his 4 busiest progression routes, not where every pass starts and ends separately. Arrow width = how often, colour = xT gained, dashed = switch of play. The full breakdown is in the lane matrix below.

own goal left, attacking →
Lane transition matrix — when he receives in a lane, where does it go?
TO →RWRHSCLHSLWRW1145%518%236%4RHS2050%1020%430%6C963%322%2156%549%99%9LHS4581%32%935%16031%14431%142LW8520%14%3637%31559%500FROM
Rows normalised: each row sums to 100% of that lane's completed passes. Grey number = passes from that lane.

Primary route: the left wing in the final third → the left half-space in the final third — 25 progressive passes (17% of his progression) at 0.073 xT each. He moves it inside.

His progression is inward: 61% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 3% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

Only 2% of his passes switch play, so his threat is same-side — contain the flank he occupies and the route closes.

Quality behind the volume: 51 line-breaking passes and 114 final-third entries, 10.3 total xT added.

Origin and destination are measured on the same event row — no receiver inference. Receiver identity is not recoverable from this data source.
All passes — origin zone share
Filter: from to
0%0%0%1%1%0%1%4%3%2%1%3%18%24%21%15%7%
completedincomplete1665 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
1665
passes
86%
completed
228
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 86% season completion rate.
05

How does he progress play?

How much he drives the ball forward. Progressive = completed pass advancing ≥15 toward goal.

120
progressive · 3.6/90
114
final-third entries · 3.4/90
13
box entries · 0.39/90
17
progression index /90
Progression index: one composite number — progressive passes + progressive carries + 2% of total distance progressed + 8× positive xT added, all per 90. Weights VOLUME and THREAT together rather than counting progressive actions alone.
11

How does he create chances?

33 key passes (1.00/90), 0 of them assists — where his chance creation specifically comes from, 18 zones (6×3), showing his share of key passes originating there.

Chance creation — key pass origin zone share
Filter:
3%3%15%12%3%33%30%
chance creation (33)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
14

Can he finish?

20 shots · 1.88 xG · 1 goals (-0.88 vs xG). Mostly left-footed. Circle size = xG.

shots  20
on target  12
goals  1
xG  1.88
xG on target  2.56
xG / shot  0.094
Where he shoots from — click an area of the box
10

Where does he become vulnerable?

233 times he gave the ball away. For a defender the danger is where — a loss in his own third can turn into a chance against; higher up it costs little.

79
attacking third (cheap)
86
middle third
68
own third (dangerous)
Vision AI 34% of losses are in the attacking third — a notable share happen deeper, which invites transitions.
Mistake danger (proxy): 2.59 danger-index/90 · 0.368 avg/turnover. Weights each loss by threat conceded at that location. True xT-conceded needs the opponent possession model; positional proxy.
12

What is his passing profile?

1665
passes attempted
39%
mostly forward
61%
mostly short
Direction
Forward
644 · 39%
Sideways
468 · 28%
Backward
553 · 33%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
871 · 61%
Medium
516 · 36%
Long (>30m)
50 · 3%
09

Preferred Progression Routes — xT-weighted

His progressive passes as zone→zone routes, weighted by expected threat (xT) added — arrow width and the number are the total xT generated on each route, not just how often he plays it. This is where he actually moves the needle.

2.981.470.840.810.740.59
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
2.98
Left Wing Mid third → Left Wing Att third
20 passes
1.47
Left Wing Mid third → Left Wing Mid third
20 passes
0.84
Left Wing Mid third → Left Half-Space Att third
4 passes
0.81
Left Half-Space Mid third → Left Wing Att third
6 passes
0.74
Left Wing Def third → Left Half-Space Mid third
9 passes
0.59
Left Half-Space Mid third → Left Wing Mid third
12 passes
06

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where Marc Cucurella gets on the ball — his top three ball-collection areas highlighted (gold = primary). Reception is proxied by where his on-ball actions begin (no explicit receiver is recorded).

123
1 = primary, 2 = secondary, 3 = third · own goal left, attacking →
His collection zones
28%
Primary
Left Wing, Middle third
18%
Secondary
Left Half-Space, Middle third
16%
Third
Left Wing, Defensive third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
07

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where Marc Cucurella actually gets on the ball. Hover any zone for its breakdown by action type, its share of all touches, and the exact coordinate range it covers.

Filter:
4430539635124812361964433822255911
own goal left, attacking → · brighter + higher number = more touches

Passes only — completed vs incomplete, by zone

Same zone grid, restricted to passes so completed/incomplete and match filters actually mean something — a shot or a dribble has no "completed" in the pass sense.

0%0%0%1%1%0%1%4%3%2%1%3%18%24%21%15%7%
own goal left, attacking →
13

Every Pass This Season — completed vs incomplete

Every pass this season, plotted individually — green = completed, grey (dashed) = incomplete, gold = key pass. Filter by outcome or isolate one match below.

33Key pass
13Cross
28Cutback
120Progressive
138Long ball
16Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
358Outside → Inside
407Inside → Inside
505Outside → Outside
167Inside → Outside
By direction
644Forward
553Backward
468Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
04

Tactical patterns — how his football actually looks

Three clustered sequence diagrams from his own event data — his three busiest routes: the way he progresses, the pattern behind his chances, and where a turnover turns dangerous.

own goal left, attacking →
How does he progress the ball forward?
His most common route for progressing play: he plays straight through the left wing, advancing it forward in the middle third — 20 passes worth 2.98 xT.
Where do his chances come from?
Of 33 key passes, his busiest route is a delivery where he plays inside from the left hs toward the central in the final third — 12 times. The receiver isn't identifiable in this data, only where the pass started and ended.
Where does he lose the ball most?
This is a RATE, not a raw count — the share of his touches in each zone that end in a turnover, so a zone he simply plays in more often doesn't automatically look riskier. His weakest zone is the central in the final third: 29% of his 24 touches there are lost (7 times).
—0 touches · too few—4 touches · too few18%2/11 lost16%14/89 lost19%51/265 lost—5 touches · too few—7 touches · too few14%11/81 lost7%22/299 lost11%50/471 lost—7 touches · too few17%2/12 lost29%7/24 lost23%31/137 lost14%36/253 lostRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
02

Crosses & Cutbacks

13 crosses (0.39/90, 5 completed) and 28 cutbacks (0.85/90, 13 completed) — two separate wide-delivery patterns into the box, each its own map with a completed/failed filter. Neither is a tagged event, so both are inferred from pass geometry — the intended end point of a failed attempt is still real data (an interception doesn’t erase where the ball was aimed): a cross is a pass aimed into the box starting from a wide channel; a cutback starts almost on the byline but is squared back rather than driven forward, aimed centrally around the box. The completed-cross count was checked against this platform’s own real match-level cross totals and lands within about 1 cross of the true count.

Crosses — close-up on the final third
Cutbacks — close-up on the final third
completedfailed (dashed)close-up on the box — attacking ↑ toward goal
Out of possession

Out of possession

Where and how he defends and presses.

15

How & where does he defend?

431 defensive actions across the season (13.0/90). Where he wins the ball, and how — the core question for a defender. Aerial duels are not recorded for this competition, so aerial dominance is not measured here.

click a card to isolate that action type · own goal left, attacking →
55
tackles · 73% won
32
interceptions · 1.0/90
113
recoveries · 3.4/90
101
clearances · 3.1/90
40
blocks
36
avg action height
57
won high (att 3rd)
137
middle third
237
own third
Vision AI A mid-block defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 200 proactive ball-wins (6.0/90), tackle success 73%. He defends mostly around the middle third.
16

Can he play under pressure?

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Can Marc Cucurella still play out when the opponent presses high? His build-up quality split by press intensity — the key question for a ball-playing defender. Tiers of ~11-12 matches — directional evidence, not proof.

press tier
completion
prog /90
line-breaks /90
xT /90
High press (PPDA 5.7, 11m)
82%
3.9
4.6
0.84
Mid press (PPDA 8.4, 11m)
88%
3.9
4.0
1.01
Low press (PPDA 12.9, 12m)
88%
2.9
3.9
1.10
Team

Team context

How much of the team runs through him, and what changes without him.

17

Impact on the Team

Real Madrid's output per match with Marc Cucurella (34 matches) versus without him (4 matches). Insufficient evidence — the without-sample is only 4 matches; treat every Δ below as noise until more games exist. What his own defending should move — goals conceded and results — leads; attacking output (largely out of a defender's hands) is shown after, for context. A proper on-off model needs many more minutes.

WITH (34)
WITHOUT (4)
Δ
goals against /match
1.35
1.50
-0.15
points /match
1.44
0.75
+0.69
goals for /match
1.56
1.25
+0.31
xG for /match
1.58
0.00
+1.58
18

His Share of the Team

Of everything Real Madrid produced this season, the categories where the biggest share ran through Marc Cucurella specifically — his share of the team total, not a per-90 rate.

category
share
him / team
clearances
10%
123 / 1176
tackles
10%
78 / 783
progressive passes
9%
190 / 2033
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

20

Playing-Style Profile

Not raw event counts — football style scores: weighted models scored 0–100 against the 233 full-backs in the pool (min 450 min). This is what separates players who post similar numbers but play differently. Proxy dimensions are inferred from on-ball data; true off-ball running / under-pressure context is not measured.

Inverted full-back65%Overlapping full-back31%
Why Inverted full-back 65%: a weighted blend of build-up 78 (weight 35%) + retention 69 (weight 30%) + progression 40 (weight 25%) + press resistance 31 (weight 10%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
—
Strong
receiving zones, build-up
Average
retention, creativity, defensive aggression, box threat, line-breaking, ball-winning, final-third threat, crossing, transition, progression
Weak
carrying, press resistance, passing directness, through-balls, dribbling, territory (wide vs central)
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Receiving zones
79
Build-up
78
Retention
69
Creativity
68
Defensive aggression
67
Box threat
62
Line-breaking
57
Ball-winning
47
Final-third threat
46
Crossing
45
Transition ~proxy
41
Progression
40
Carrying
33
Press resistance ~proxy
31
Passing directness
23
Through-balls ~proxy
20
Dribbling
6
Territory (wide vs central)
5
21

Similar Players — in style space

Closest comparables measured on the style scores above, within the same position family — so it separates how players are alike, not just how much they touch the ball. Each line explains the shared strength and the divergent mechanism. A light physical-profile term (height / weight; this player: 174 cm / 66 kg) is included at a quarter of one style axis's weight — enough to break ties between stylistic twins, not to override style. Scope: pooled across the La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Premier League and Serie A, percentiled within each player's own league before comparing — a match from another league is marked with its league name.

Style, not quality: a high match here means two players tend to produce the ball in similar ways — it is not a ranking, a scouting recommendation, or a claim that they are equally good.

Nicolás Tagliafico Lyon · Ligue 1 · 172 cm / 65 kg
84%
Driven by: dribbling (20%), territory (wide vs central) (17%), build-up (12%). Different mechanism — Cucurella more via creativity; Tagliafico more via passing directness.
Alberto Moreno Como · Serie A 25/26 · 171 cm / 65 kg
76%
Driven by: dribbling (22%), territory (wide vs central) (17%), build-up (10%). Different mechanism — Cucurella more via defensive aggression, ball-winning; Moreno more via carrying, through-balls.
Álex Valle Como · Serie A · 178 cm / 72 kg
71%
Driven by: dribbling (21%), through-balls (13%), territory (wide vs central) (11%). Different mechanism — Cucurella more via line-breaking, box threat; Valle more via territory (wide vs central).
Calvin Verdonk Lille · Ligue 1 · 174 cm / 69 kg
63%
Driven by: dribbling (26%), press resistance (14%), through-balls (13%). Different mechanism — Cucurella more via box threat, retention; Verdonk more via territory (wide vs central), ball-winning.
Carlens Arcus Angers · Ligue 1 · 180 cm / 75 kg
56%
Driven by: dribbling (31%), build-up (25%), through-balls (12%). Different mechanism — Cucurella more via receiving zones, defensive aggression; Arcus more via passing directness, progression.
Dani Carvajal Getafe · 173 cm / 73 kg
55%
Driven by: dribbling (20%), passing directness (11%), territory (wide vs central) (9%). Different mechanism — Cucurella more via defensive aggression, ball-winning; Carvajal more via through-balls, line-breaking.
22

Summary

Marc Cucurella is an inverted full-back: 3.6 progressive passes and 13 box entries, delivering 33 key passes. Inverted full-back. [1v1 recovery pace and off-ball overlap timing need tracking.]

Based on 34 matches (2980 minutes) this season — a reliable read. He profiles as an inverted full-back — best used in a system built around that identity. His biggest room for growth is press resistance — even a modest improvement there would meaningfully lift his overall inverted full-back profile.
✨ This report is interactive

Click any stat card to filter its map, hover a dot for the exact match, and use the dropdowns to slice passes zone-to-zone. Nothing here is static.

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