Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella changed his cleats just 12 minutes into the game after his slips contributed to both of Tottenham's early goals in the teams' London derby in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Spain international ceded possession by slipping on the turf at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the fifth and 11th minutes — and from the ensuing attacks, Spurs scored through Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski.
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Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates with his teammate Marc Cucurella after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Chelsea's Marc Cucurella changes his shoes during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Chelsea's Jadon Sancho celebrates with his teammate Marc Cucurella after scoring his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Tottenham's Brennan Johnson challenges for the ball with Chelsea's Marc Cucurella during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Tottenham's Brennan Johnson challenges for the ball with Chelsea's Marc Cucurella during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Immediately after Kulusevski's shot hit the net to make it 2-0, Cucurella sprinted to the sideline while shrugging his shoulders and pointed to his cleats. He took them off and threw them away in disgust before putting on new ones.
It seemed to work.
Within six minutes, he provided the pass that led to Jadon Sancho scoring for Chelsea to make it 2-1.
Chelsea went on to win 4-3 — and Cucurella posted a photo on social media after the match, showing the first cleats he wore nestled in a bin.
“It almost slipped away,” Cucurella wrote on Instagram Stories, “but proud of the amazing team effort to turn things around.”
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Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates with his teammate Marc Cucurella after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Chelsea's Marc Cucurella changes his shoes during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Chelsea's Jadon Sancho celebrates with his teammate Marc Cucurella after scoring his side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Tottenham's Brennan Johnson challenges for the ball with Chelsea's Marc Cucurella during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
Tottenham's Brennan Johnson challenges for the ball with Chelsea's Marc Cucurella during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Chelsea, at the Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Dec.8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. service member who has been missing since Iran shot down a fighter jet has been rescued, President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post early Sunday.
A frantic U.S. search-and-rescue operation unfolded after the crash of the F-15E Strike Eaglejet on Friday, as Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in the “enemy pilot.” “This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” he wrote.
A second crew member was rescued earlier.
“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” Trump wrote.
Trump said that the aviator is injured but “will be just fine,” adding that the rescue involved “dozens of aircraft” and that U.S. had been monitoring his location “24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue.”
The fighter jet was the first U.S. aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the conflict in late February.
Trump said last week that the U.S. had “decimated” Iran and would finish the war “very fast.” Two days later, Iran shot down two U.S. military planes, showing the ongoing perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of a degraded Iranian military to continue to hit back.
The war began with joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened, and hit, civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.
The other jet to go down was a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it crashed was immediately known.
Trump renewed his threats for Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy shipments that has been choked off by Tehran, by Monday or face devastating consequences, writing Saturday in a social media post: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”
“The doors of hell will be opened to you” if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country’s joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump’s renewed threat, state media reported. In turn, the general threatened all infrastructure used by the U.S. military in the region.
But Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told The Associated Press that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track” after Islamabad last week said that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that Iranian officials “have never refused to go to Islamabad.”
Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt were working to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.
The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
A second U.S. Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Middle East on Friday, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation. It wasn’t clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down, or whether Iran was involved.
Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iran’s defense forces.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb.
The strait, 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.
“Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?” Qalibaf wrote.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
Jon Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Samy Magdy from Cairo. Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Konstantin Toropin, Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington, contributed to this report.
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