'He has to learn' - Marc Cucurella says Nicolas Jackson must 'improve' after red card against Flamengo in Club World Cup

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It was a bad day at the office for Chelsea and Nicolas Jackson, in particular, after the striker was sent off for a rash challenge having only just been introduced as a second-half substitute. The Blues went on to lose 3-1 to Brazilian side Flamengo in their Club World Cup group match, and full-back Marc Cucurella gave his thoughts on Jackson's second red card of the season.

Nicolas Jackson

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Nicolas Jackson "has to learn" and "needs to improve", said Chelsea team-mate Marc Cucurella after the striker's red card against Flamengo in the Club World Cup.

Jackson was sent off for a dangerous challenge just four minutes after coming on as a substitute.

He apologised to his team-mates as Chelsea succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to the Brazilian side.

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"He’s very sad," Cucurella told DAZN. "He tried to win the ball, had the bad luck that he kicked his leg and that’s it.

"He’s a young player with a lot of quality but maybe needs to improve a little bit in these things.

"But he has to learn. After the manager spoke, he said sorry, he didn’t do it on purpose.

"He’s a very important player for us. We will miss him in the next game but this is football."

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was far more coy on Jackson's dismissal.

"It was a red card, so nothing else to say," he told DAZN. "They deserved to win."

The red card was Jackson's second of the season, following his sending off against Newcastle in the Premier League last month.

Jackson will be absent from Chelsea's next Club World Cup game, against ES Tunis.

The Blues are now second in Group D, with three points from their opening two matches, having beaten LAFC 2-0.

Flamengo boss Filipe Luis, formerly of Chelsea, saw his side make it two wins from two in an impressive start to the tournament.

"I'm really happy," he said. "We believed that we would have chances and I am really proud."

Ex-Chelsea midfielder Jorginho also featured for Flamengo, and he highlighted the quality of his team's performance.

"I think it says it all. For the game and how it was, we played good football and did really well on the pitch," the Italian told DAZN.

"When we had to wait, we waited. When we had to press, we put them in trouble. We worked a lot on how we could hurt them, we believe in what we do and we push all together."

Cucurella, meanwhile, reflected on what went wrong for Chelsea.

"For the majority we controlled the game well," he added. "When we conceded the first goal I think they had this good feeling because their fans started to be loud, and immediately after we conceded the second one. This is a thing that we have to improve.

"We need to control the game more, suffer in some moments but the most important thing is that we have another game and if we win we go through and that's it."

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